Mercenaries and Heroes
by ShaliKyuu
Summary: Miss Pauling sends the team into the future as a last resort to find the last australium. But no one would suspect how far they would go. Meanwhile, a hundred years into the future, Overwatch is being assembled once again. Will Overwatch stand in the way of the mercenaries mission, or will an alliance be formed? Rated M for possible mature themes.
1. A hundred years later

**Numbani, Nigeria 3rd March 2075**

It was late afternoon, the sun was about to set, but you could already see the neon lights fill the streets.

The time machine was stuck in a big crater, in the middle of what looked like a town square. A few dozen humans were standing around, looking down at the car sick mercenaries that were crawling out of the back door. The team looked around and were surprised by what they saw. The buildings that were surrounding the square were gigantic and looked far more sturdy and advanced than any building they had ever seen.

"Aaaagh, MEDIC, Please help me sister…" Soldier groaned as he crawled out of the machine, but stopped when he saw the people that were looking down on him from the edge of the pit.

"Ahaaa, the enemy have cornered us into a bunker. Worry not brave men, unlike them I'm a true american who always got a gun or two up my sleeve." Soldier smirked under the shadow of his helmet and with the help of his black box, he rocket-jumped out of the hole.

The explosion scared the bystanders and they all fled the area, except from a poor man who had been pinned to the ground by soldier.

"HAHA, I AM TRIUMPHANT" Soldier shouted. "Any last words before I take your neck for a spin pal?"

"Wait up Soldier, I think it's rather smarter if we press this man for answers instead, we need information, not unnecessary blood on our hands." Spy stopped Soldier.

"Nah, this maggot already passed out, does that mean I can whack him?"

"NO, we do not want to cause a bigger commotion than you already have, but you could take his clothes, we need to blend in." Spy ordered while he scanned the area. Weird, he thought, there was no signs of any police or security nearby.

"Aw sweet! Look at this baby!" Scout said and held up something that looked like a skateboard without any wheels. He had also found a rainbow coloured cap and a pair of metal tinted sunglasses. He really looked like a person from the future. "This is so rad, I can't believe this is real! WOHOO!" Scout flew past the rest of the crew on his new hoverboard.

"Well would ya look at that" Engineer chuckled while watching Scout as he flew around. He inspected the skyscrapers that surrounded them. There were giant screens with news broadcasted on them, commercials that shone down on them. Cars were parked along the streets but instead of standing on tires, the cars hovered in the air just above ground level. Engineer came to the conclusion that they must use a similar mechanic as the hoverboard Scout had found.

"The technology seemed to have developed well the past few….. How many years have passed exactly?" Engineer thought out loud.

"You tell me" Heavy said while carrying his minigun up from the van. "Aren't you the brain behind this operation?"

"Miss Pauling briefed you all on this operation, didn't she?" Engineer sneered "We are supposed to gather information on where the last australium is in the future so we can be one step ahead our enemies in our current time."

"That still doesn't answer question" Heavy continued. "When and where are we?"

"Numbani, Nigeria 2075" Sniper said out loud. Everyone turned around and saw Sniper reading a newspaper he'd found on the ground. "We're 102 years into the future."

The nine mercenaries froze for a second with shocked expressions. 102 years? That was almost too far into the future, one couldn't imagine how much the world had changed. Some of the mercs looked worried upon the revelation, but most of them looked really excited. Medic and Engineer glanced at each other. They often worked together and they knew that technology and medical science had developed greatly. Both of them couldn't wait to experiment with all the new technology together. Soldier, on the other hand looked confused.

"Numbani? What state?" He asked, convinced that they still were in USA.

"I know you all have many questions that needs to be answered, but we need to focus!" Spy stepped in

"Wait, wait, who made you leader you french frog" Scout asked "As far as I know, Miss Pauling asked me privately to attend this mission and I know that I have a really critical role when it comes to-"

Ignoring Scout, Spy continued to brief the team on the plan.

"We'll split up in teams of three. Me, Scout and Demoman will gather informations from the locals, eavesdrop on gossip if you want to call it that."

"You know the best place to hear local stories?" Demoman spoke up. "The tavern" he smiled.

"Sniper, Soldier and Pyro. I need you three to scout out the city. Let us know if there is anything that endangers our mission and keep an eye out for authorities. We don't want to start a fight… Yet."

Sniper looked irritated back at Spy. You could see him mouthing "I'm not a bloody babysitter!" but he couldn't do anything to change the situation. He just had to make the most of it.

"And I need you three." Spy pointed at Heavy, Medic and Engineer. "To get the time machine out of here. We don't want the police, or anyone else for that matter, to take our only way home away fro-"

Spy stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw countless robots rolling into the area, surrounding them. They held guns which were pointed at the mercs and they seemed to show no emotion at all.

If this wasn't enough for Spy to realize that these were security robots which were here to eliminate them, the next thing that happened would.

"SCANNING AREA, 10 TARGETS FOUND, 9 UNIDENTIFIED AND POSSIBLY HOSTILE, EXECUTING PROTOCOL #45, LEVEL 1."

The robots began firing lasers upon the mercs. Everyone barely evaded the shots and swiftly equipped themselves with a loadout of weapons that they had brought with them in the vehicle. As a usual procedure the team gathered and moved together as a group.

Scout flew past the robots on his hoverboard, hitting them with his Sandman and distracting them, demoman shot out sticky bombs blowing up the robots underneath them, turning them into scrap metal. Heavy and medic were working together to build up a ubercharge in order to confront their opponents directly. Inch by inch they pushed the robots back from the crater. When there was only about a dozen robots left, the same noise as before rang out.

"GREATER DANGER DETECTED, INCREASING SECURITY TO LEVEL 2" and without any further notice, more robots rolled out from behind a building, except these robots were up to the double size as the previous ones, as well as their guns.

Spy realized that if they kept fighting, the level would only increase and that it would sooner or later result in their defeat.

"MEN, RETREAT!" Spy shouted over the gunfire. "SPLIT UP AND ONCE WE'RE IN SAFETY WE TRY TO ASSEMBLE AGAIN."

"What about the time machine? a distressed Sniper asked.

"Leave it! We can come get it back later, our lives are more important right now!"

Even if abandoning the time machine seemed like a really bad idea, they all realized that they didn't have any choice. The mercs ran for it, split up and got deeper into the darkness of the city.

 **Somewhere else in the city**

Winston was sitting and working by his desk when the report came in. Winston hated paperwork. He prefered working out on the field or an afternoon working in the lab. He really missed the old days when he worked together with his old crew. They were always right out in the action actually making a change. It was those missions that ended the Omnic crisis. Sitting here on his ass doing paperwork wouldn't change much, he thought and grunted.

Only since a little while ago, Overwatch was disbanded. Even though they had ended the omnic crisis and practically saved the world, people deemed Overwatch corrupted, true or not. As the criminality of the world rose and terrorist attacks increased, the blame was put on Overwatch and protests broke out. On top of all that turmoil there was deeper conflicts going on at the Overwatch Swiss headquarters. Gabriel Reyes and a bunch of other Overwatch agents started a rebellion against Jack Morrison, who tried his best to keep the remains of Overwatch together. A fight broke out between the two sides which resulted in a large explosion that destroyed the headquarters. Several people died in the incident, including Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, leaving Reyes real intentions hidden. The United Nations tried to cover up the incident as much as they could, but Overwatch was now officially disbanded. All the remaining members split and hid themselves in different parts of the world as they were despised by the masses. The United Nations got together and formed Petras Act, which deemed all Overwatch activity illegal.

Three years later, a billionaire started his own project, and started searching for the lost Overwatch members and hiring new agents. The billionaires name was Madalitso Adebowale and his objective was to defend his city, Numbani, from all the chaos that had unfolded there. Countless terrorist attacks had plagued Africa's western coast and even if the Omnic-Human relations were in harmony, crime involving Omnic hostility had increased as well. Madalitso wanted to stop all the criminals himself, but were unable to act because of his sickness. So instead he put his fortune into recreating the heavenly taskforce Overwatch. Petras Act couldn't do much since the organization wasn't called Overwatch anymore and that it now was privately owned.

As Winston was up to knees in papers he heard a light knock on his door. He turned around to open it and knocked over his desk lamp in the process. Winston was used to be able to move around freely in a large area and now he was stuck in this cramped office. When he first started he had written down 'animal cruelty' as a complaint to his boss, unclear whether it was a joke or not. Here, he was literally a monkey in a cage.

Winston cursed as the lamp fell to the ground, but he didn't bother to pick it up when he saw who were standing by the door.

"Cheers love, am I interrupting something?" Tracer giggled looking down on her monkey friend.

Winston looked up at his coworker. Tracer was the only previous member that Madalitso's scouts had succeeded to find. Well, atleast it was someone he could get along with. Now they were finally stuck with each other again, he thought.

"No, please. I need a distraction from work." Winston said while getting out of his chair. He followed Tracers cheery steps as they walked down the hall. Their new headquarters was really neat, clean and spotless. The building was filled with women, men and omnics who all were dressed up like businessmen in suits, or scientists in labcoats. Winston and Tracer stood out like a sore thumb, which they really didn't mind, they were both used to being different. Winston who were a gorilla with greater iq than most scientists out there, who had his only real equals on an abandoned moonbase, and then Tracer, a former pilot who was the first in the world to get diagnosed with chronal disassociation. Winston saved her by building the chronal accelerator, an invention now almost impossible to recreate due to the incident in Switzerland that destroyed all the research Winston had made. She was now a time jumping adventurer. Most of the people adored her abilities, but some despised her because of them. They called her a freak, something unnatural, which is not completely untrue. Tracer was the closest thing to time travel this world had come, of course people would be afraid of that power.

They were both freaks.

Winston looked outside the window and realized what a huge need he had for fresh air. He remembered last week when he and Tracer had fought two terrorists from Talon in a museum, that had been like the old days. The thought of the mission reminded him.

"Have they swapped the location of Doomfist's gauntlet yet?" Winston asked his friend.

"Yup, yesterday actually" Tracer replied "They chose some really spooky abandoned omnic facility just on the outskirts of town" she made a grimace as to scare him, but it just made him laugh.

"I just really wonder why Talon is after that gauntlet." Winston thought out loud " I wish I had permission to research the properties of that fist" he muttered. He really thought he should have more to say in this, as he was the one who defeated Doomfist years ago.

"Where are we going anyway?" Winston finally asked.

"There was a bombing in Ambia central square, no casualties but there was a man that got injured by one of the terrorists." Tracer answered, a sudden seriousness in her tone.

"Wait a second, why didn't I hear anything about this until now? Was it the same ones that we battled a week ago?"

"Reaper and Amélie? Nah, I don't think so, his description doesn't match them."

"Why do you still refer to her as her first name? You know she is infamously called 'Widowmaker' nowadays"

Tracer waved away that comment and continued talking.

"...And there is another detail that points to that we haven't tackled these people before."

"And that is?"

"Why don't you follow and hear for yourself?

They entered one of the interrogation rooms were two police and an Overwatch officer were talking with a man. The man sat on a chair, on the far end of a table. He was swept in a blanket and appeared to be shaking. He wasn't looking at any of the officers when they talked to him, he just stared off into empty space and answered the questions like an emotionless machine would. When Tracer and Winston walked in, all the eyes in the room turned to them, even the man in the blanket looked up and seemed to gain a little more hope seeing the two heroes walking into the room.

"Great, you two take over, we've had no luck extracting any information from this lunatic, let's hope you have better luck." the female officer said. She patted Winston on the shoulder and followed her colleagues out of the room, leaving Tracer and Winston to the shuddering man.

"Okay." Winston sighed "Can you take everything from the beginning?" He sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the man. "Who were the one who attacked you?"

"Demons" The man simply said with a slow hand gesture.

"What?" Now it was Winston's turn to make a grimace. "Demons you say? Do you know how these 'demons' got to the square with all that weaponry?"

"They came from the underground with their demonic machine. It was as peaceful as always but then the earth shook and suddenly, they just appeared. All dressed in red, nine demons with evil grins covering their faces." the man spoke faster and faster. "We were foolish not to flee the moment they showed up! One of them leapt at me, flames erupting from his feet. He pinned me to the ground and spoke in a demonic tongue. I passed out, but when I woke up I were naked, and there was destruction everywhere." he was now breathing very heavily.

"So, you're telling me demons spawned out of nowhere and then attempted to strip you?" Winston asked the man. Everything about this sounded so weird, even though he could feel the honesty in the man's words.

The man now seemed to panic "I promise you! I wouldn't speak dishonestly, please believe me, I'm not crazy!" he was now on the verge of tears. He held out his hands as to beg for forgiveness to the two.

Tracer walked toward the man and grabbed his hands and looked him firmly in the eyes.

"Don't worry, we will catch the demons, for now you are safe here."

The man was sobbing, but you could see he was relieved. Winston and Tracer left him to rest and began walking toward the supply room.

"Call up Fareeha, we need her for this." Winston said to Tracer. He opened the door to the armory and grabbed his suit and gun.

"But isn't this her day off?" Tracer replied.

"Nine armed terrorists is on the loose right now, we need all backup we can get and need to take all the precautions… We're going in too." he said as he began to put on his suit.

"Yes Finally!" Tracer jumped in the air excitedly.

"I don't think terrorist attacks is something you should be so happy about" although, he couldn't deny he was a bit excited as well.

"Aw, don't worry grumpyface, we can stop by the market on the way and fill your daily need of peanut butter"

 **To be continued!**

 **Authors note:**

This is a heavy work in progress, let me know and I'll gladly make this a series, I have great things planned...  
The genre is adventure/mystery right now, but there will be aspects of angst, supernatural and tragedy.


	2. Stories untold

**Demoman**

Demoman was in dire need of a drink. All this time traveling nonsense had made him all dizzy, and he needed some alcohol to balance it out. There had always been weird things in his life, like when they were forced to battle against a horde of skeletal minions spawned by Merasmus, or when they got kidnapped by aliens and had to blow up the entire space fleet to return to earth, not to mention the most recent incident where they had to defend Mann co from Gray Mann's robot army. Good times, but stressful times. But time travel was something he had never experienced before and he hoped that he wasn't going to need to experience it sober again.

He, Scout and Spy had together decided to hit the bar, for different reasons. Spy was convinced that they had to gain info about the city so they could blend in better, and what other place was better to pick up gossip than the local beer joint? Spy had helped Demoman and Scout go undercover with new outfits, although the clothes he chose for them still felt a bit old-fashioned.

"No offense, Spy, but are you really the right man for this job?" Scout had asked him when they were in the boutique.

"I'll have you know that I'm a master at disguise. I know all about blending in, and It's really necessary with how you two are dressed right now" Spy ogled at Demo and Scout.

"Stop Scout, let the self proclaimed fashionista do his thing." Demo teased.

"You're talking about the guy who walks around in a ski mask all day long!" answered Scout, taunting Spy. "Master at disguise my ass, you just want to cover that ridiculous mop of yours!."

Both Demoman and Scout fell over with laughter. Ever since Spy removed his mask they have been making fun of his hair. Spy's hair was in no way unkempt or messy, but the fact that he had a big part of his hair turn grey made the two men lose it. Demoman and Scout were still in their young years by far, if you compared to Spy.

"Let's call Miss Pauling right now" Scout continued while laughing "Gray Mann is actually still alive! He have been hiding under Spy's mask!" Demoman was dying of laughter but Spy wasn't as entertained. His entire face were red, embarrassed and angry.

"Well, at least I don't walk around the battlefield in a dress!" He snapped at Demoman.

"It's called a kilt!" Demoman responded.

His first impression of the bar were that it seemed very small and old fashioned for being in 2075. It was like stepping back into 1973 again, which appeased him. It felt homely.

There were a lot of people in the bar, and Demo noted that some of them seemed a little bit less human than the others. Some were sitting and talking quietly by the bar and some were sitting playing blackjack. Smooth jazz was playing in the background and people were laughing loudly. Just the environment he preferred.

Scout was fast to sit down at one of the blackjack tables and joined the card game. Demo knew that Scout was confident about his fast hand movements and often used them to cheat and scam people in these sort of games, and he was always eager to find some new fools to scam. Spy headed over to the other side of the bar to eavesdrop on the passing conversations in hope to find some useful information.

Demo just sat down at the first best barstool he found and made himself comfortable. He tapped twice on the bartable to get the bartender's attention. The bartender was a buff and very tall man, maybe even over 190 cm tall. He was bald and had a fierce look, he looked more like a bouncer than a bartender.

"I'll have some royal brackla please" Demo told him and handed over a twenty dollar

bill. "Keep the change and make it fast"

"Excuse me?" The bartender asked laughing "Mind repeating that?"

"Some royal brackla?" Demo asked again now a little irritated, he noticed how several other people were laughing behind his back. "If ye don't have any Brackla, then I'm fine with some Brechin or Glenury." Demoman tried for the third time.

"If you're going to order anything, order something a good bartender know about, not

something cheap you drink in the hole where you crawled out of."

"So no whiskey then" muttered Demo for himself. "What about some Genesee beer?"

"Hey, if you're feeling nostalgic, why don't check out the museum?" the bartender chuckled.

The people in the bar couldn't hold it in anymore, they lost it and cried of laughter, the sight of a man muttering brands from 100 years ago had become their weekends top. Demoman blushed when he realised he had made a complete fool out of himself. He saw spy watching him from a dark corner, he had promised him not to stand out, and now all eyes in the bar were aimed at him. Just about when he were about to stand up and leave he heard a female's voice to his right.

"Two glasses of Overscotch, for me and this gentleman"

Demo turned around and saw a woman sit two stools away from him. The woman had black hair that reached down to her shoulders. She was wearing a black sweater and a pair of light blue jeans. She had dark intense eyes and beneath her right eye were a symbol of a tail or a hook. Demo couldn't decide this was part of her makeup or even a tattoo.

The laughter died out and people around the bar began minding their own business again, realising that Demoman's blunders were over. There was no question that she was one of the people who laughed at him, but she did save him and he had never said no to a free drink, so he sat down again.

"Stupid name right?" She turned the glass in her hand "It's funny how people still order these even if they have lost all respect for Overwatch itself." Finally looking up and looking at Demoman "You're not from here, are you?" The woman asked with a concerned smile.

"Not even close." Demoman responded feeling a little grateful.

"So? What's your name punk? That is the least you owe me." The woman demanded.

"The names Tavish" Demoman said without thinking. Shit! He was supposed to hide his identity, he could feel a glare from Spy "And you?"

"I'm Farehaa Amari, but my friends calls me Pharah" Pharah smiled. "Say Tavish, what's your business in Numbani?"

"I'm a goldminer" Demoman lied. If you thought about it, it wasn't such a good lie. He was actually searching for gold. Australium gold.

"Oh, I didn't know that still was something people work with, I thought automaton omnics had covered the branch completely?" Pharah said while taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah, business is hard nowadays, it's hard to compete against companies that endorse workers without payment, heh" Demoman chuckled. It was hard to lie, but since goldmining was one of the covers that RED used to cover up their mercenary conflicts, so it wasn't completely untrue.

"Tell me" Pharah stalled "What's up with the eyepatch? I first thought that you were a pirate or something, but since you obviously work with mining I excluded that idea. Have you been to a masquerade or something?"

Demoman was so surprised that she was the one who changed topic so he didn't need to, so he just sat and stared at her for a moment.

"Oh, touchy subject? Sorry I didn't realise, I..I shouldn't have aske-"

"What? No no, it's fine! It's just that my left eye got haunted by a spirited tome that I got from a crazy magician." Demoman responded without thinking. Once he got some alcohol in him, he had a hard time to stay dishonest. "I've had this so long that I can't remember the feeling of having two eyes."

"Oh. Okay…" Pharah seemed to get weirded out "You're an interesting guy Tavish" She said jokingly.

"Yup, get that a lot" Demoman said and took a sip of his drink. He thought back to the days when people would call him 'Cyclops' and 'one eyed freak' without considering that messing with an explosion expert would be a bad idea. Demoman hoped that this girl wouldn't end up like one of them.

"What about you?" He continued . "You have this weird hook thing under yer eye, what does that symbolise?" Demoman asked, trying to change the subject again.

"Oh this?" She poked on the tattoo on her cheek " it's not something I usually tell people i meet in a bar" She said and looked down. "But since you have been so honest and sharative, I guess I could tell you. It's not as exciting as your story though, so don't get too excited." She said and laughed.

"Well all stories are made to be told, aren't they?" Demoman said carefully.

"This tattoo is identical to my mother's tattoo. She always told me stories about the symbols origin, that it symbolises protection and good health, and since she disappeared I only have this mark to remember her by. I know it might sound silly, but it feels like she is watching over me and protecting me through this mark. It makes me feel safe. She always told stories like that when she came home from work, I guess i kinda miss that" Pharah spaced out, just staring into her empty glass. Demoman noticed she looked genuinely sad and felt bad about himself.

"If you like, I have a few stories myself. Have you ever heard about someone trying to catch the loch-ness monster, only with explosives and a broken net?"

"I thought loch ness was a myth" Pharah responded raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it wasn't less of a myth after I was done with it."

Pharah laughed and Demoman realised he successfully cheered her up again, so he continued telling her about all the bizarre stories his life was filled with. Most people would laugh at him for telling them, but he felt that she was laughing with him.

 **Heavy**

Heavy, Medic and Engineer all went to a giant library that was located in the city park. They figured that educating themselves a bit would be a good idea before going out in the new world.

"It's quiet" Heavy claimed, constantly looking over his shoulders.

"It's a library, of course it's quiet dumpfkopf" Medic responded. He was high up on a ladder searching for a book called 'Our species: Medical development past the 21st century'

"I mean too quiet..." Heavy persisted. He could feel it. Someone was definitely watching them.

"I think you should rest pal." Engineer said. He was leaning on the wall, reading a book covering the first Omnic crisis. "I propose we go over to the bar later to grab a beer, feels like you could need one, what do ya say?"

Heavy didn't understand how these two could be so calm about the situation. He couldn't help but feel wary. They weren't supposed to be here, and by that he didn't mean the library, he meant the time. It felt like the whole town were his enemy, like their whole existence was a crime.

"Hey Heavy pal, you might wanna see this." Engineer called him over. He had opened a section called 'The second Omnic crisis'.

"Seems like siberia is in quite a pickle, feel like going to fight for ya country?"

"I have no connections in Russia except for family, and they aren't here." Heavy reminded him.

"Don't say that. What if Soldier and Zhanna has grandchildren?" Engineer theorized. "They could still be alive in that case."

Heavy didn't like that idea. He liked Soldier as a friend and teammate, but including him in his family and accept him as his brother in law felt weird, and he didn't know if he was ready for that yet. He decided to stop thinking about that and came back to reality.

"This place feels like utopia, but the rest of the world are chaos." Heavy reflected.

"Don't worry, we just have to find out where the australium is in 1973, find some australium ourselves and then go back to sweet old 1973, mission done" Engineer reassured him.

"Wait, what do you mean 'find australium'?" Medic suddenly asked. "We only need to find information about the australium, ja?"

"Well, there is a small detail that I maybe forgot to mention to you guys…" Engineer scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "...The time machine runs on australium."

Heavy looked at his friend with horrified eyes."Does that mean?" He managed to say.

"Yes." Engineer answered. "Unless we find some australium, we won't be able to return home."

 **Spy**

"I don't intend to be impolite, but are you guys.. Dating?" Spy tried to ask casually.

He sat down face to face with your average couple, except that one of them looked like one of the robots that Gray Mann sent to take over Mann Co. He really hadn't come to term with the facts that robots walked among them, it made his skin creep. The futuristic aspect had been a bit unnerving, but the omnics had been the largest culture shock for him. He couldn't even imagine an omnic-human relationship, it made him shudder.

"We're actually engaged!" the omnic man announced proudly. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm actually a journalist. I'm currently writing a article about omnic-human relationships, you don't mind if I ask some questions?" Spy took out a small notebook from his back pocket.

"No, no! Not at all, go ahead, we'll gladly answer." his fiance said clinging to the omnics arm "Ask away!"

"Alright, how did you two first meet?" Spy put on a smile and leaned forward in his chair as to act interested.

"Oh yes, we actually first met in Paris, we were both on semester and met under the fireworks, oh it was just amazing-" The omnic man babbled on, really immersed in his own story.

Now to the real question, Spy thought and squinted his eyes at the metallic man. How do I kill you? Spy had an old habit of analysing his enemies before acting. Trying to find a weak spot and the easiest way to take away their lives. Very often, the answer was a swift chop in their back, but sometimes the circumstances was different. And now, the circumstances were really different. He touched his suit and felt his electro-sapper in his inside pocket. Will it work on you? Will your servos lock up and your wires burst? He thought back on the security bots when they first arrived. How powerful were an usual omnic in a one-on-one combat? He wanted to find out. He wanted to test it. He wanted to know the perfect formula in how to murder an omnic.

"-and it's all thank to Overwatch that we can live in this peaceful society."

Overwatch? This catched Spy's attention."What is your opinion on Overwatch, except from that?"

"Well it's too bad that they disbanded, but it seems it was inevitable." The omnic sighed.

"But they're getting together know right?" The woman chimed in "President Madalitso is trying find all its previous members to reform Overwatch!"

"...wait does that mean they're still...?" Spy tried to be vague, getting answers without really asking the question.

" A global peacekeeping force? Nah, it's in a much smaller scale right now, since it's privately owned. Heck, it's not even called Overwatch anymore."

This didn't seem good at all. If they bumped into these 'Overwatch agents' their plan could really be messed up.

"Right now their only duty is to protect the city, but one day they could be as big as they were in their golden age. I've heard that they recently started cooperating with other organisations such as NASA and Helix security international for example."

"Speaking of which, isn't that Pharah from Helix?" The woman pointed at the bar. "I thought I recognized her before, but I couldn't put my finger on who she was."

"Oh, yeah you're right! She is their representative but I bet that she will be joining in the near future. Her mother was one of Overwatch's top agents after all."

Spy turned around to see the person who they were talking about. The sight didn't please him at all.

At the bar area, Demoman sat together with this elite soldier known as "Pharah". They were talking in loud voices and laughing even louder, telling stories while over gesticulating with their hands.

"Merde!" Spy cursed quietly. This REALLY wasn't good.

"Thanks for the help, I think I'll go talk to this 'Pharah' right now." Spy said as he rose from his chair and began to walk over to the bar area."

"No worries man, it was our pleasure! Good luck with your article!" They shouted after him as he left.

Spy walked up to Demoman and knocked him on his shoulder to get his attention. A slightly drunk demoman looked up, with tears in his eyes from the laughing. "Yea?" he said.

"Excuse me Tavish, but there is something I must talk to you about. In private." Spy tried to sneak in a hint that it was time to leave.

"Your boss?" Pharah asked teasingly.

"Yes actually, I am. If you excuse us we need to leave. NOW"

Just after Spy said that, another voice rang out, much louder and with a rusty, robotic cling to it: "YOU CHEATING LITTLE MEAT BAG" and then a large crash that made the whole tavern go quiet. Everyone looked over at one of the blackjack tables. The one that Scout was sitting by.

The one screaming was a large omnic, with both the size and intimidation as a full grown grizzly bear. The omnic had the head in the shape of a chrome skull and he had empty dark eyes. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a red text that read 'VERRACO WARLOCKS', supposedly the name of his outlaw biker gang. The omnic seemed to have crushed the table in his rage, and all the other players lay on the ground shaking with fear, except Scout who stood his ground.

"THIS LITTLE HAIRLESS MONKEY CHEATED, I SAW HIM WITH MY SCAN" The omnic roared.

"Nu-uh" Scout responded "Just admit that I'm mister lucky today, and yourself? Not very much so." Scout smirked. "You can always sell that shiny head of yours. It looks valuable and it doesn't look like you're using it yourself."

This made the omnic just even more upset and he was close to make the jump on Scout.

"OI! No brawling inside the bar!" The bartender raised his voice. "If you're going to fight, do it outside." He pointed at the back door waiting for their response.

The omnic made a nodding motion toward the back door and started walk to it. "Let's set this outside, hermano."

"Oh, I'll show you outside aight. More exactly, I'll show your brain to the outside, won't that be fun, you tin can?" Scout followed the Omnic outside.

Why did he have to work with such incompetent fools Spy thought while massaging his temples. "Tavish, please get your sense together and meet me back there as fast as possible." Spy said as he turned his back and ran after Scout.

 **Sniper**

Sniper scouted the area. Yep this was futuristic alright. He had seen all kinds of Australian architecture and technology, but it still didn't match up to this. Looking through a tourist telescope he overlooked the city. On the battlefield he was mostly looking through the scope of his sniper rifle, so he was used to look at the world from this perspective. The city was massive, no doubt about it. Finding australium here would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, he thought.

He had heard some of Engineer, Medic and Heavy's conversation in the library, the bit about them needing actual australium for the time machine to work. Everyone in the team had an earpiece of their own which was connected to a channel so they all could communicate while in battle. When they arrived they all agreed to not use the channel as the risk of it being hijacked or intercepted was very high, but that didn't stop Sniper to eavesdrop on his team members every now and then.

"They're the sorriest excuse for soldiers I have ever seen!" Soldier exclaimed "We've battled robots before! If we hadn't retreated, I could have scrunched up those tin cans with my bare hands!"

"Mmmpf Hummh" Pyro said looking up at Soldier. Pyro was sitting down watching the last stripe of the sun disappear as it set in the horizon. Pyro loved watching sunsets, maybe it had something to do with his massive obsession for fire, or maybe they just loved the way the sky got filled with a variety of warm colours/ a shade of pink orange and red.

"Our weapons weren't effective enough?" Soldier answered to Pyro's mumblings "That shouldn't matter! A man's real weapon is in his heart!" Soldier clenched his fist and held it against his chest.

"Huddah huuh..." Pyro muttered and continued to stare at the sunset.

Sniper never understood how Soldier could comprehend what Pyro said. Maybe he just interpreters Pyro's mumbling as his own schizophrenic answers to his own question. That would mean that Soldier basically talked to himself, a thought that made him a little sad. Sniper still respected Soldier. He was a great moral leader and was great at war strategy. Soldier was the only one of the mercs that had been to an actual war, Which made Sniper wonder if the schizophrenia could have been caused by the war. More sad thoughts. He decided to stop thinking about it and went back to spy through the telescope.

Another thing that Sniper picked up from the conversation Heavy and Engineer had was that they weren't doing their job. Spy had given them one job, but instead of following order they went of to satisfy their thirst of knowledge. Amateurs, Sniper thought, and they would call themselves assassins. That wasn't completely true. Sniper was the only one who could be classed as an assassin. He had traveled the entire world carrying out jobs, killing people for money before joining the team. There was a large amount of people that feared the name Mundy.

However, since his friends weren't doing their job, he took it up himself. He followed all the large highways for a sign of the time machine. If they transported it from the plaza they had to pass here. As if ordered on a golden plate, a truck carrying the salvaged time machine drove up on a highway near them. It was accompanied by police cars that escorted it, but it wasn't something he couldn't handle.

"There's our call mate" Sniper said and turned to the other two just to see Pyro sitting alone.

"Oh where did that lunatic go?!" Sniper sighed. Pyro simply shrugged at the question.

"Ok nevermind" Sniper said and picked up his sniper rifle. "Come on Pyro, we can do this on our own"

 **Pharah**

Pharah was having a really good time. It was really long ago she met someone this goofy and it felt like it was something she really needed. Pharah was a designated woman. She found pride and honour in her job, but even that could stress her out. She needed time away from all her responsibilities.

Just as Tavish's boss went away and they could continue their discussion, another person showed up.

"Excuse me, captain?" Saleh asked her. Saleh was one of the rookies she had taken under her wing.

"Oh fuck off, not you too" Pharah leaned back and sighed. She didn't usually behave like this, but she was slightly drunk and the continuing interruption really irritated her.

"Captain? I thought you said ay were the pirate" Demoman laughed.

"It's a message from HQ" Saleh leaned down and whispered to her.

"But it's my free day!" Pharah complained "Whatever it is I'm sure they can handle it on their own."

"It's from Winston, he says it's urgent"

Pharah had no choice but to listen to the man and follow him.

"What?" She asked when they had gotten out of hearing distance from Demoman.

"Nine terrorists are loose in the city" Saleh whispered. "And your friend is not who he claims to be." Saleh nodded over to where Demoman was sitting.

Pharah's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious?" She glanced back at her drinking buddy and then back again "Holy fuck."

As she said this, you could hear robotic screams from the backyard.

"See?" Saleh said.

"Okay, fine" Pharah admitted her dullness. "You go handle the ones outside and I'll take this one."

"Did ye have a nice tal- OI WATCHA DUIN?!" Demoman succeeded to blurt out before Pharah had pressed him against the bar table to cuff him, overpowering him completely.

"CAPTAIN FAREEHA AMARI, HELIX INTERNATIONAL." She announced to the public. "DON'T WORRY WE HAVE THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL."

When she and her captive got to the backyard, only Saleh and the disabled Omnic were there. Saleh was on his knees, arms around his belly. Pharah could see that he was bleeding from his gut, unfortunately enough he hadn't been wearing his suit.

"They got away. One of them got up on the rooftops, the other one disappeared completely. I think he can render himself invisible, he managed to get a hit on me." Saleh whimpered while clenching his wound.

"Alright, don't worry" Pharah assured him. "I'll go after the one on the roof, watch our prisoner and try to help the Omnic on his feet again"

With that said she used her jetpack to launch into the sky. She had put her combat suit, the Raptora mark VI on and was now fully prepared for anything.

 **Scout**

Scout was doing what he knew best. He was running on the rooftops, jumping from building to building. The fight between him and the Omnic biker had been one sided, until Spy appeared. The Omnic had not been able to land any hits on him since all Scout had been doing was dodging all his swings while screaming. When Spy arrived, he quickly put one of his electro-sappers on the Omnics body, but it wasn't enough. It did seem to drain his stamina though since the Omnic fell over and started having a seizure. It was when he screamed and tried to crawl away that Scout decided to finish him off with his aluminium bat.

"Great timing pal, but just so you know, I had him" Scout had told Spy, taking a breather.

"You imbecile! How can you mess up so bad?" Spy exclaimed. "No time to lose, we're abandoning the drunk, he put himself in this situation." Spy equipped his butterfly knife and put on his mask. "You escape via the rooftops, I'll distract them."

And so he did. Scout was now trying to get away as fast as he could, but he couldn't help but feel great while navigating himself across the roofs. He was reminded of his youth in Boston, when he and his brothers used to draw graffiti at secret spots and then proceed to run away from the police by climbing and jumping between houses.

Many buildings here had a chrome sheet and had curved edges, which made it hard to get a good grip, but Scout had such good control of his feet so it didn't really pose a problem for him.

Just when he thought he was in a safe distance, he heard the sound of an engine behind him. He turned around and saw the woman Demoman was drinking with, except that she was wearing a frickin' combat suit and had a rocket launcher equipped, loaded and ready to use. But Scout thought logical. She was an officer or somethin', that meant she wouldn't fire such a destructive weapon in a public area, the rocket launcher was an empty threat.

The woman landed on the house and screamed after him.

"STOP!" She commanded. "There is nowhere you can run!"

Sure enough. Scout stopped, still having his back turned to her, waiting for her to come closer and drop her guard. Scout didn't know how good she was, but no one exceeded him in responsiveness. When she had walked close enough, Scout turned around quickly and pulled out his scattergun and aimed it at her head.

"DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP OR I'LL BLOW YOUR FRIGGIN BRAINS OUT" Scout screamed at her.

Scout seemed to be in luck because it worked. Pharah dropped her rocketlauncher and put her arms in the air. She hadn't expected him to be armed.

"Yeah, that's right. Now phone down to your dude down there, the one with the lame haircut, and tell him to release Demoman." Scout demanded.

"So that's his real name?" Pharah laughed. "Is that how you guys impress people? By acting as gold miners? I'm not gonna lie, it's not a very attractive job."

"Shut your damn trap, chicken wings." Scout taunted her and smirked, dropping his guard. Something he shouldn't have done.

Pharah reacted as fast as he stopped concentrating. She straightened her arm and aimed it at the ground, just to the left of him. Out of the top of her arm she shot out a concussive blast which hit right next to Scout which knocked him back several meters. He hit his head in a chimney, and then everything turned black.

 **Engineer**

"WE HAVE THE BUILDING SURROUNDED"

A rough voice echoed through the library. Crap, Engineer thought. He knew he should have listened to Heavy's instincts, and now they had already found them. He tried to figure out how they were able to track them down, but the only thing he could think of was if they somehow intercepted their channel, but that couldn't be the case since no one used it.

They could all feel the red dots that marked their heads. There were several snipers located on the upper floor aiming down at them.

"We have a clean shot, should we take it?" He heard one of the snipers say over his radio.

"No, wait a minute." The rough voice spoke again. "Hold your fire, I'm going in."

That was when one of the most bizarre things in Engineer's life happened. From behind a bookcase, a gorilla walked in, wearing an exoskeleton suit.

"Dell Conagher I presume?" The gorilla said. "My name is Winston and I believe we have much to discuss."

 **To be continued!**

 **Authors note:**

Phew, sorry that took a little longer than expected. Schoolwork is a pain, but now all my projects are done so I should be able to write more often. This one is a bit longer than chapter one so that's still something ;) I want to create a format similar to game of thrones when it follows many characters, so I am testing this format to see how it works. Tell me if there is something bothering you about it and I'll look into it :)


	3. The Teufort nine

**Winston**

"So Athena, what can you tell us about them?" Winston spoke into a monitor which he had on his arm. Athena was an AI that Winston had developed himself when he started as a scientist at Overwatch. She was the only one he worked together with during the time Overwatch was disbanded. He talked to her as he, Tracer, Pharah and Saleh was walking towards the interrogation rooms.

"Believe me, I had to dig really deep to find something about these guys. They are a group of mercenaries which base of operations is the Badlands, New Mexico. They all worked for a man named Redmond Mann who used the mercenaries to fight his brother, Blutarch Mann. The brothers created an all out war which was called 'The Gravel War'. The brothers fought over the location known as the Badlands, which their father left them to fight for before he died. Thanks to the local arms race, the mercenaries got access to technology that even could be compared to ours. Eventually, the two brothers were both assassinated and the war ended. All until a third party rehired the mercenaries for unknown purposes."

"That's much information to take in at once" Winston replied. "So they're basically war criminals?"

"Their line of work before becoming mercenaries are all different, but there are two things about this information that bothers me." Athena continued with worry in her voice.

"And that is?"

"To begin with, if the information is correct, there should be nine of them. You guys only captured eight of them. That means one of them is on free foot." She explained

"That must be the one who stabbed me. He could render himself invisible. He's a dangerous one, be careful." Saleh said. He had gotten bandaged up and was now fit for fighting again.

"Invisible? That seems like an impressive skill, what kind of tech could that be?" Winston began thinking out loud. "If they have access to advanced weapons like that we should be extra careful, we don't want him to break his friends out."

"Secondly, and this detail is very remarkable." Athena continued "The gravel wars ended in 1971. That would mean that these men are over a hundred years old."

Winston frowned at this remark. "That can't be, can you doublecheck your information? Could your database be hacked?" He began fearing that these people was much more powerful than he expected if they even could twist information in Athena's database.

"The pictures and description matches them, and I don't believe that my database has been hacked. There could be a possibility that they pose themselves as the teufort nine, but that would mean they got access to the information that it took me hours to find."

"Let's start by interrogating them, it seems like they have much they need to answer for."

"Eh, guys. No offense but I think you accidentally caught a child" Tracer exclaimed why looking through the one way mirror at one of the mercenaries sitting there.

"Don't be fooled" Pharah scuffed "That man pointed a shotgun at my face and threatened me cold heartedly."

 **Scout**

Scout sat alone in an interrogation room. The room was incredibly boring, white walls surrounded him and the only thing to accompany him was the surveillance camera that spied at him from over one of the corners and his own reflection in the one way mirror in front of him. His wrists were cuffed and stuck to a table, which he found extremely irritating. They had taken away the one thing he loved, to be able to move around freely. He would love nothing more than to get comfortable, but there wasn't room enough for him to put his crossed legs on the table. He tried to angle himself to get his legs in the right position.

Just as he tried to get into position, the door opened and in walked four people, or more exactly, three people and a gorilla. Scout couldn't imagine what kind of circus that was in for him, but he decided to play along for now. He put on his signature charming smile and acted casual.

"Hehey, if it isn't my private fanclub! Thank you for buying backstage tickets, I promise to make it worth your while." He grinned at his captors. They mustn't know that they had the upper hand, so Scout continued to act the idiot.

"Hello 'Scout'" The gorilla spoke. "My name is professor Harold Winston, may I know your name?" He proceeded to sit down opposite to Scout and picked up a notebook. The lady who captured him and another girl sat on each side of the gorilla and sat with their arms crossed. The fourth person stood in the corner, a guard Scout suspected, and maybe also a lifeguard to the woman. He suspected a bad-cop-good-cop strategy, but they seemed a little to many for that.

"Sure pal, just tell me where to sign. Should I address it to anyone? Maybe to your friend Tarzan. I'm sure he would appreciate my autograph." Scout laughed

"Cut the bullshit. You are accused of terrorism, possession of illegal firearms and attempted murder." Winston cut in. "You might want to explain yourself."

Scout raised his eyebrows "You call me a terrorist, but still you let me in here with these guns?" The guard in the corner reacted at this remark and gripped his gun. Scout slowly lifted his arms and kissed his barely visible biceps. "I'm sorry girls, I'm taken, I don't think Miss Pauling will take my unfaithfulness in a good way. But I could maybe take you out for some platonic dinner if that's your deal." He fired his finger guns at the two women and winked at them. "Waddya say chickenwings?"

His captor, which he referred to as 'Chickenwings', just rolled her eyes and seemed really unimpressed, but the other girl just sat and stared at him intensely. She had brown hair with too much hair gel and she wore a pair of yellow tinted sunglasses. Then she spoke out with a british accent, a voice which Scout never had heard before.

"I heard you can run." The girl simply said, unclear on whether this was a question or a statement.

This caught Scout off guard. Did his really bad pickup line actually work? He wasn't sure what was going on. "Um, ye-yeah! I'm like the best at running, not to be like that but you can't find any faster person on this plane-"

"Then can we race afte-" Tracer started, but were interrupted by Winston.

"LENA ENOUGH" he slammed his fist in the table and made everyone jump. The girl got so startled that she continued to stare down at the floor the rest of the interrogation.

"This miss Pauling, is she the boss of Talon?" Winston continued as if nothing had happened.

"Miss Pauling? Naw man she just acts as a middle point between us and the Administrator ya know" Scout answered, not realising that he gave away information.

"And who is the administrator?" Winston continued asking questions. He was down the right track.

"Hell if I know. I betcha Miss Pauling doesn't even know much about her." Scout shrugged and leaned back. The truth was that he had never seen their boss in person. He had only heard her announcing their objectives while they were in the gravel wars. "The only thing I know is that she's after the australium, the reason we even got here." He continued babbling. Scout had always been a talker, not necessarily a positive trait. In this situation, it would have been the best if he kept his mouth shut.

"Australium?" Winston looked up from his notes. "What are you talking about boy?" In his 29 years as a scientist he had never heard the term before. There was a possibility that the young man were just talking nonsense, but it had seemed like he had accidentally spilled the beans.

"Enough of that." Saleh walked out from the corner where he had been standing. "As far as I am concerned, one of your buddies are still running free." He put his hands on the table and leaned forward. "That one gave me a few marks to remember, the one who can turn invisible?" He was staring intently at Scout, he didn't seem to like him one bit. "I also heard that you pointed a gun at my precious captain, an action that I simply can't forgive."

"Stand down soldier!" Winston held Saleh back. "I think we are done here. We'll come back to you later."

 **Winston**

"Athena-"

"You don't have to say it, I heard everything" The AI responded immediately "Unfortunately, the terms 'Miss Pauling', 'The Administrator' and 'australium' doesn't give me any information. I'm sorry Winston but I have no lead on the matters."

"Well, that interrogation could have gone better." Pharah admitted as they sat down to take a break.

"Agreed." Winston sighed "Saleh and Lena, I'm sorry but Fareeha and I will have to continue the interrogations without you."

"Wait wha-" Tracer exclaimed.

"You two acted on your own accord. I can't risk losing valuable information because of grudge and personal interests."

"Geez don't be such a drama queen" Tracer muttered. Even though she knew that challenging a terrorist to a running competition was a bad idea, she wasn't able to hold it back. "I'm sorry" She admitted.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, I'll see you later" Winston waved her off.

* * *

"This Miss Pauling... Is she the leader of Talon?" Winston said while blinding Soldier with the desk lamp. The man across the table however, were unharmed by the act since the helmet he wore always covered his eyes.

"Miss pauling?" Soldier said dumbfounded "Nah nah, she is just the errand girl for the administrator, but if you want to know who that is, you'll have to dig deeper because that's something I don't even know."

Winston gave up on his poor interrogation techniques and put down the lamp. "When our men found you, you were on top of the city hall and had torn down Numbani's flag just to exchange it with an American one."

"I am a true American! And a true american always carries the flag of his country!" Soldier stated proudly.

"The flag you raised was your own underwear Mister Doe..." Winston glanced at the man over his notes.

"Obviously!" Soldier exclaimed "Real flags are kind of uncomfortable..."

"How did you reach the top of the city hall?" Winston wanted to know. The people who worked there had no reports of an intruder, and with this man's peculiar outfit, you would think that he would stand out.

"Oh you want to know that right, so you can climb up there and smash helicopters and kidnap little girls, don't think I haven't seen the documentaries! Well unlike you, King Kong, we humans have another way than your primate climbing skills. I used my freedom of arms possession and rocket jumped to the roof!"

"Rocket Jumping? That sounds dangerous..." Pharah raised her eyebrows. Was this man a madman? Who were the people they were dealing with here?

"You said it lady!" Soldier answered "but if we're talking safety hazards" soldier looked serious and leaned towards Pharah. "There's a freaking gorilla in this room and I can still hear your friend in his belly."

* * *

"Guess we're not getting anything more from him" Winston sighed.

"It feels like most of them are just trigger-happy maniacs" Pharah admitted. "Smart of the enemy to send a bunch of brain dead gunmen." She scoffed and leaned against the wall "Smashing my head against a brick wall would make me lose less brain cells than talking to these guys."

"What about this one?" Winston asked. Pointing inside one of the interrogation rooms. Inside sat a sleeping Demoman. He was drooling all over the table.

"Oh no, I don't want to talk to him again, all he did last evening was lying. And I don't think he has sobered up yet…"

"Could it be? Are you worried about this man?" He laughed.

"No I'm just angry that someone could fool me so hard." Pharah admitted. It was true, she took deep pride as an Overwatch officer and it hurt her that someone was able to fool her just because she let her guard down.

"What about this guy then?" Winston asked Athena when they approached Pyro's interrogation room. As they stared inside the room through the one way mirror, they could feel the unsettling aura that emitted from the masked person that sat in there.

"I'm sorry." Athena replied "I really tried to search everywhere, but the only thing I got was that they call it 'The Pyro'"

"It?" Winston and Pharah asked in unison.

"Yes, our doctors couldn't identify the creature. They say it's something they have never seen before."

"Is it an alien?" Winston wondered. What if he had more in common with this creature than anyone else. Inhuman and not earthbound. "Can I walk in and see what's under the mask?" With the curiosity of the scientist that he was, he had to find out.

"I would strongly discourage it. Three people went in there half an hour ago and all of them went down with a scream and they had to be taken to the psychiatric ward."

"Did it render them unconscious?"

"Negative. They just completely lost their minds. If this was an act by the creature, we don't know."

"Truly fascinating..." Winston mumbled. He knew what situation they were in but if he got the opportunity, he would love to study this person. He had many times read about the supernatural in the world, but actually meeting something that was purely unknown was a dream for him. The only time he had met someone with supernatural abilities was his old co worker Dr Angela Ziegler, the miracle doctor. They say she have brought people back from the dead several times.

"Can we leave, I'm getting kind of freaked out here..." Pharah suggested. She was not one to be scared or to back down easily, but 'The Pyro' gave her chills down her spine. "I think I need a break, and I also think you do these interrogations better alone. If that's ok with you?"

Winston agreed, but he kept his gaze on the masked creature in the interrogation room as they walked away. That's when he noticed that the creature was staring back. And followed him until he was out of sight.

* * *

"As far as I know, you are called 'The Medic'"

"Jaa, that is correct mein dear freünd" Medic answered cheerfully. Winston noticed that this man was really happy to see him for some reason.

"If you are the mercenaries private doctor then I think you could help me understand-"

"Nein, nein, there is something you has misunderstood. I'm not tending to them like some little school nurse! They are my beloved subjects, the fruit of my hard work. As their mama it hurts me more than anything to see my experiments locked up in here like they would be dangerous or something!" Medic grinned. There was something creepy about this old man, Winston thought. He talked like he was some proud grandfather, but also talked about the others like they were just objects for him. Toys for him to play with and modify as he pleased.

"What can you tell me about 'The Pyro'?" He continued where he left of. Winston thought that he at least could find out something that he was passionate about.

"Jawohl, what a excellent subject 'The Pyro' is. What would you like to know? What it eats? How many times of the week you should water her? His favorite color? My diagnosis says that it's red, but if it is from the bright fire they start, or from the blood of their enemies, I don't have a single clue."

"Cut the bull crap, I want to know what the Pyro is! What is under that mask?"

"Oh wouldn't I love to brag about my discoveries, but sadly enough I don't know more than you my primate friend." Now Medic smiled even more "Now, as an eye for an eye I have a question for you. Are you perhaps related to the mega baboons in some way? I have a certain interest in your kinds nature." Medic put his hands together and began talking in a more serious tone. "You see, mega baboons is the primate that differs the most from the human, who still are in the same biological order. Do you know what that is that makes the Mega Baboons so different from the homo sapiens 'Dr. Harold Winston?"

Winston was mute. It felt like it couldn't be possible, but this man scared him even more than 'The Pyro' did. He did not care about others well being. He only cared about his personal goals. And now Winston understood why the man took such an interest in him.

"The difference is their immunity system. The mega baboons was one of the species that was the hardest to hunt down for the human race. They could take spears, arrows and even bullets straight on, but still charge forward with all their rage. Even so, the human race succeeded in defeating them and they went extinct. While researching this extinct species I could only think of one thing: What would happen if men had this immunity? And now I meet you doctor, where have you been hiding? Are there more of your kind?"

That was it. Winston couldn't take anymore. The things this man talked about disgusted him. It also reminded him of his origin and the death of his friend Harold Winston, whom he got his name from.

He began walking out of the room, but when he looked back at Medic, he noticed that several of Harold's features could be found in Medic's face. The only thing that differend between the two men were that his friend had a soft face full of kindness that emitted love. Medic on the other hand, had only coldness and hard edges.

When Winston got out from the room he felt sick and had to wipe his forehead from the cold sweat that he got from listening to the creepy man.

Only one to go, he thought. And this would be the most interesting one.

* * *

"Dell Conagher" Winston started when he entered the room. "If that really is your real name, welcome to Overwatch's headquarters" He sat down opposite to Engineer. Hopefully this conversation would be much more pleasant than his last one. Dell at least looked friendly enough.

"Much obliged, pardner" Engineer chuckled. "I'm not the one in the team that poses as someone that I'm not."

"So I've heard" Winston laughed "Several of your friends, and the information I have, states that you lot are time travelers, if that's the case, then welcome to the 21st century as well."

"The pleasures all mine." Engineer leaned back. He had made himself really comfortable and Winston wasn't sure if he was trying to play him. "I think I'll never cease to be amazed by how far you have come technologically. I mean that suit looks super realistic. Isn't it kinda warm though?"

"Really funny." Now that Winston knew the man wasn't here to speak the truth he decided he should put all the formalities aside. "Thing is, I don't buy your little story. In my 20 years as a scientist I've studied some of the archived projects of the man named 'Dell conagher' and 'Radigan conagher, and I don't believe that a brute like you could be the offspring of that genius'"

"Easy boy, thats ma ol' granddad you're talking 'bout" he's long dead though but he was a tough old man. Bet he was a hard one to kill, but what doesn't people do for a little gold." Engineer continued to small talk.

"One of your co workers mentioned something about australium? Something I've never heard about."

"Guess the administrator did a good job at cleaning up the evidence. The bloody way."

"There it is again. The administrator? Miss pauling? Australium? How does everything connect? What is a miracle worker such as yourself doing in Numbani, terrorising its inhabitants?" Winston had so many question. If they really were from 1972, then that would mean this man was able to build a time machine, something that he himself would only dream of.

"Believe me monkey, you don't wanna know. The further you are dragged into this, the bloodier it gets." Engineer suddenly got a lot more serious. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, because well... You're already involved."

"Wha- What do you mean?" Stuttered Winston. It was the only thing that Winston could respond. Instead of answers, only more questions popped into his head.

"You're telling me that someone on this planet succeeded in creating robots with a human mind, a 'soul' so to say, and you have never heard of the properties of Australium." Engineer sat up straight and looked straight at the gorilla. "I haven't been here very long, but I can see that you don't know what you're dealing with. And that is going to be your downfall."

Just as Engineer finished his sentence, Saleh burst into the room, breathing heavily.

"Sir, Talon agents spotted near the abandoned omnic facility. They have taken out all the men we posted there. Somehow they found out that we hid the golden gauntlet there."

Engineer was still smiling. He knew he was right, and Winston hated it.

"Farewell monkey, i'll see ya soon." Engineer shouted after him as he was locked in again all by himself.

* * *

"There's also an anonymous tip that some free roaming vigilante has been spotted around the area." Saleh continued to report.

"Alert Lena and Pharah, we should all go out" Winston ordered him. It was typical that something like this had to happen now.

"What about me? I'm sure that my skills will be useful in the heat of the battle."

"Sorry but you should stay here and guard our prisoners, we don't want more trouble than we already have. I don't think we can handle them if they escape at this crucial moment. We still need to press these guys for answers, so it's important that they still are here when I get back."

"But I need to be there to defend my Captain!" Saleh insisted. Winston admired his devotion, but he was still a rookie.

"Thats an order, your captain will be in an even greater danger if these men escape and comes after her later. Remember that there still is one on the loose, and he is the one who easily can infiltrate our headquarters."

"Alright sir." Saleh suddenly changed in attitude "I'll make sure he doesn't even get near this building."

 **Scout**

It had been an hour since the monkey and the girls left him alone in the room, and Scout was getting bored. He started to simulate escape routes that he could take if he actually was free from the shackles. He also took the opportunity to make up catchphrases and pick up lines he could test on that british chick. After his imagination ran out he began wondering when spy was going to save them. As incompetent and untrustworthy that spy was, Scout bet that he wouldn't be able to make it. "Never trust a frenchie." He swore under his breath. Only then he felt how hungry he was. Wasn't he going to get any food? Were they doing the starving technique? That was fine he thought, when-

Suddenly the room burst open. Scouts first thought was that they finally decided to feed him, the second was that a saviour had come to break him out.

"Heey, what took you so lo-"

It was neither

Saleh stepped into the room and slammed the door behind him.

"I couldn't beat you up in front of an officer with a higher rank." He turned his head towards the surveillance camera that was positioned in the top right corner. Saleh reached behind and pulled the power cord and faced scout with a grin. "But now we're all alone."

Scout had been frozen the entire time since the man stepped into the room, but now he succeeded to talk back to him.

"He-hey man it's fine man! No need to work yourself up about this, I never actually laid a hand on chickenwi-"

"DON'T CALL MY CAPTAIN THAT YOU UNCIVILIZED SCUM!" Saleh kicked the table to the side, flipping it over. Scout flew down to the ground with it since he was chained to the table and he hit the ground hard.

Before he could react Saleh hopped onto Scout and straddled him under him. He grabbed around Scout's neck with both of his hands and started strangling the boy.

"YOU NEVER TALK TO CAPTAIN LIKE THAT! NEVER" saleh kept screaming while choking Scout.

Scout couldn't utter a word and tried to breath and fight against the man's grip as best as he could. He tried to kick him but he just flopped around on the floor. As his eyes started to turn red, he saw a figure in the doorway through his bloodshot vision.

"Spy! That's enough!" He heard Engineers voice ringing in his ears.

Suddenly, the man on top of him let go and stood up. Scout gasped for air and coughed several times. He breathed heavily and held his chest with his hand. His heart was racing faster than normal, like it tried to run away from death itself. With a 'ka-chunk' he heard his chains fall to the ground. He looked up where Saleh stood just a moment ago, and standing there was a man surrounded by smoke. When the smoke dissolved Spy was standing there in his place.

"Get up you little wimp, we got work to do!" Spy grinned at the boy.

Scout got up and gave Spy an angry glare "what the hell was that for?" He asked, still struggling to breathe.

"That was for giving out too much information to the enemy, and flirting with girls at the worst timing possible." Spy smirked. "Be glad that I stopped you before you did anything even more stupid."

"Asshole" Scout mumbled under his breath. His neck was still sore after how rough Spy had held him.

"With this camera evidence, they'll blame the soldier for our escape, and I can blame you for his murder."

"Wait, how long have you been disguised as that guy?" Scout exclaimed. "And where is the real guy?"

"Since you got caught you moron. The real one is rotting in a container somewhere"

They got out of the room and Scout saw that the whole team was gathered. Which meant that they all saw what happened. They all laughed lightly when Scout stepped out, which irritated him. He hated to always be the one who everyone laughed at.

 **Spy**

"Ok Soldier now it's your time to shine." Spy said and gave the spotlight to his friend.

When it came to war tactics, Soldier was the one with most experience. It was because of him that the team worked together so perfectly and had such a good chemistry in battle.

"Alright, listen up ladies. Thanks to Sniper, we know that the facility is located right outside the west side of the city." Sniper had before getting caught spotted a vehicle owned by Overwatch leave town for the facility.

" I suggest we spread out, take down the cannon fodder and then go in on the higher ranked officers. As far as I know, we got three of them to worry about. First we got monkeyman. We have no idea what weapons he might use and he seems like one hell of a tank to take down, but we should be able to find his weaknesses. Medic?"

"He could be hard to take down, but if we do much damage and keep him on a safe distance we should be able to take him down."

"Good, heavy and medic, you guys take the gorilla. Engineer, accompany them and build a sentry gun to guard an emergency exit in case shit goes down the sink."

"Scout you take the fake american with the ski mask. She seems to be quite fast but I think it's nothing you can't handle. Just split her up from the rest of them and you'll be fine."

"Leave it to me!" Scout said proudly.

"We also have the eagle lady. According to Scout she is very agile in the air so me and Demoman will take care of her."

Demoman sat and snored, but woke up when Spy kicked him in the side to wake him up.

"And Pyro..." Soldier paused and glanced at Pyro. He was sitting on the ground with his axe ready for action.

"Just.. Do your thing! Protect your friends!" Pyro put his hands in the air and cheered as he heard this. Pyro was always a wildcard when it came to these things, so it was best to just let him do it his own way.

"Sniper and Spy, I got two specific tasks for you." Soldier continued. "Sniper should get somewhere up high to give us other support. Contact us if there are something that we should be wary of."

"Spy, you have the most crucial mission. You are going to sneak in while we distract everyone else so you can grab the australium gold and get out. When we have the gauntlet, we can all escape and get back to the rendezvous point where we will meet with the timemachine."

Everyone nodded, the plan was simple and seemed logical.

"One last thing. Remember that there will be a third party. The Talon terrorists. We might end up meeting them but remember that it is us they won't expect! No one expects the American inquisition! If we are lucky, we might not even need to fight them. If the Overwatch officers got their hands full with the terrorists, we can slink in unnoticed."

As everyone started to get out of the building, Soldier grabbed hold of Spy's shoulders.

"Spy, I need you to be careful out there. You have a very crucial role in this plan."

"Aw, you're worried about me-" Spy smirked at his friend, but he realised that he wasn't joking when he saw his face.

"I won't let you finish that sentence frenchie. If you don't fulfill your role, the whole team could be in danger. Their lives are my responsibility, and I won't get my team killed again!"

"Soldier I-" Spy started but Soldier interrupted him immediately.

"Don't get yourself killed." Soldier said with a face as cold as ice. He let go of his shoulders and walked past him. Spy kept staring at his friend with a worried look. Soldier had always been a happy-go-lucky dork in whatever situation they were in. He was someone who were very passionate about leading the group into battle, but Spy had never in the time they worked together seen Soldier so dead serious.

* * *

Thank you everyone for waiting so patiently! I never would have expected to receive so much positive feedback and cheerful comments! They keep me going mentally and is always appreciated.

The reason why this chapter took a while is because there have been many things happening in my life the last three weeks. I graduated from high school last Friday and now I got a full time job. I will continue to write the story in a better pace now that all the celebrating is over and all my relatives have gone home.

Chapter 4 is on it's way and its going to be HUGE. Right now I am thinking about maybe splitting it into two chapters, just because how huge it will be. Look forward to it!


	4. Smoke and mirrors part 1

The night was soon upon them, but the neon lights filled the streets and lit up the city like a burning torch. Surrounded by the savanna, it was like a burning bush in the desert.

Right outside the city, in a large industrial area, there was a certain facility. It was an old one, from the war of the omnic crisis. The facility had produced countless bastion robot automatons that were meant to fight the omnic forces and for peacekeeping purposes. But in the heat of the battle, the omnics used their technology to turn the machines against their creators. After the war ended, the facility was abandoned and all robots was disassembled. People was shaken by the robots sudden betrayal, they feared and held a deep grudge for the robots and seeing them again would cause chaos and wake the horrors and memories of the conflict. Even criminals and outlaws seemed to avoid the deserted factory out of pure fear, and because of that, the location was perfect to hide something away from them. That's what Overwatch thought at least, but there was still a group of criminals that didn't know the history of the factory.

 **Sniper**

A few 100 metres from the factory on a hill, sat said group behind a cluster of rocks. They had all escaped the Overwatch headquarters, reacquired their weapons and made their way over to the facility. It had been hard to get all the way there, with the main roads blocked, keeping civilians away from the area, they had to take a different route. Now they had arrived at the scene, which were an all out war-zone. The team were merely watching the spectacle, seeing people falling like dominoes. They were safe and unnoticed, biding their time for a perfect moment to infiltrate the facility. Sniper was looking through his scope and took in the atmosphere. He could hear gunfire over from the facility, and explosions lit up areas here and there. It seemed like the fight between the Talon terrorists and Overwatch officers was in full action. It was the perfect moment to flank behind and get into the factory, just as Soldier had said.

He gestured the team that the coast was clear and time to move to their target. They all slid down the hill and began running towards the establishment. The factory was enormous with many different buildings, but without wasting much time they made their way into the main building.

Well inside, they all split up in their respective groups. Sniper climbed up on a silo outside so he could watch over the entire area. Beside the main building and the silo, there was a huge warehouse that was connected to the main building. From the silo, Sniper could see through the windows of the main building's second floor. He also had access to a walkway which led straight to the warehouse. If any of the mercenaries started a fight there, he could support them with firepower. Sniper, Scout and Spy worked together to find the enemy while the others got ready for the plan to split their enemies up.

"Got anything yet?" Sniper asked over their radio-channel. The only thing he could see was the dying men on the field, but none of them were of any higher ranks.

"Not yet, but I hear voices." Spy answered. "They seem to be in the room on the far east side of the building. Listen!" He encouraged. Spy had sneaked inside the main building and was now hiding behind a crate in a large room.

He broadcasted what was said to his coworkers. They all heard the deep grumbling voice of a man.

"..but the forces will soon..."

 **Winston**

"...will soon break the defenses and we haven't seen a sign of Talons main force yet. I think they are trying to distract us with cannon fodder so they can trap us later." Winston argued with the others. He, Pharah and Tracer had gathered together inside a large open room in the main building. The offices were too cramped for all of them, so they had to improvise and set up a table for the strategy and battle plan in this large room instead. They didn't really get to prepare and strategize before arriving, so they had to do it on the spot.

"Well, sooner or later it will work. I can't let more of my men die out there! They are good men, and I won't have any more casualties." Pharah argued. She was a proud soldier and she sympathised with the ones on the front lines since that was where she had been before becoming a higher officer. Winston knew that she was right. He too wanted to go assist them as well, but that was exactly what the enemy wanted. They knew that Overwatch cared about all their soldiers and that they were too kindhearted. But the risk that Widowmaker, Reaper or another dangerous individual would appear was too high.

Winston didn't know what Talons motive was. Why did they need Doomfists gauntlet? Doomfist had been long dead and he was, so far as Winston knew, the only one who could wield it. But after what Dell Conagher had said, he feared that Talon might have some really dark schemes.

Suddenly something from a dark corner in the room flew straight towards him and hit him really hard in the face. After the sudden smash, Winston looked down and saw a baseball bounce away back towards the dark corners of the room. He kept looking at the ball and from the shadows emerged the boy whom he had interviewed a few hours ago.

"Hehey, for being a circus monkey, you sure suck at catching/ bad ball sense." Scout mocked him, throwing the ball up and down in his hand, a baseball bat in his other hand resting on his shoulder.

Just seeing that the Scout was on free foot angered Winston, and he had always had a bad temper. Hurting him and mocking him in a stressing time like this made him really mad.

"No Winston, DON'T!" Tracer shouted but it was too late.

Ignoring his friend, Winston leaped forward trying to grab the little boy.

"Whelp." Scout started sprinting. "time to go!"

Winston sprinted in furious rage after Scout. He reached for him and tried to grab him in his massive hands, but every time he thought he had him in his grasp, he ducked or slipped away. The boy was just too quick and agile that Winston couldn't grab him how much he even tried. Scout didn't seem to notice that he was safe though as he was screaming in fear the whole chase. As they ran out of the hall into a larger warehouse, Winston calmed down and began to think clearly again. He had other ways to take him down, he thought and reached for his Tesla cannon on his back. Before he could pull the gun out however, a massive explosion hit him from the side and sent him flying into the concrete wall.

His power suit absorbed most of the impact, but even then he felt the pain in his back and his ears was ringing. It took a while before he could realise what had happened. The man had lured him into a trap. Winston cursed as he got up on his feet. He should have listened to Tracers warning. When he looked up he saw three other mercenaries and the sentry which had shot him. Engineer, Heavy and Medic stood at the other side of the room, with the sentry he suspected the Engineer had built. The Scout were nowhere to be seen.

"Heavy knows how annoying little babby can be." Heavy spoke out. "But now, Heavy is your opponent!"

 **Pharah**

Of course Winston had to run of on his own, she thought while running down the corridor together with Tracer and four of her soldiers. Winston had always had a short fuse, but he could have known that this was a trap! Unlike Winston, Pharah was always stayed calm and thoughtful in these situations, which made her a good squad leader. As they ran out to the empty warehouse, she could picked up a faint beeping from the ceiling and reacted immediately.

"SOLDIERS, GET BACK." But it was too late. As she entered the room a large explosion caused heavy iron beams and concrete blocks to fall down. The rubble piled up before them and behind them, but before they were completely split up from the Winston, Tracer saw a small gap in the falling rubble and blinked past it. Pharah was now completely cut off from everyone. Winston and Tracer was behind the wall in front of her, and the soldiers which she succeeded to warn was in the hall behind the other wall. The enemies plan to split them up was smart, but they didn't consider Pharah's jump jet. With the help of that, she would be able to get out through the ceiling. At least she thought so, until two mercenaries showed up to take care of her. It was her old drinking buddy Tavish Degroot and the crazy rocket jumping patriot Jane Doe.

 **Spy**

"Captain Pharah!" The soldiers screamed and pounded frantically at the concrete wall that had risen before them.

"Calm down I'm right here" Pharah said, laying on the ground. At least that's what the soldiers thought. In actuality Spy had in the turmoil followed everyone and had now disguised himself as Fareeha Amari. When the rubble fell down, big clouds of dust were formed, and that was the perfect smokescreen for Spy to appear in.

"Don't worry men." He spoke with her voice. "We'll just take another route."

"Are you fine captain?" One of the soldiers approached him.

"Don't touch me!" Spy said fast and withdrew. If anyone touched him, the illusion would break and everyone would understand that he wasn't one of them. "I'm fine..."

"You guys should form up with Winston and tracer, they need help. I'm going to go protect the gauntlet, I have a bad feeling about it. Did anyone move it as I told you or is it still-"

"It's still in room b211"

Thank you for the info, Spy thought. "Ok guys I'll see you when our mission is done!" He began running for the stairs. That's when Spy realized his first mistake.

"Why don't you use your jump jet? It's faster that way." A soldier shouted after him. _Merde!_ Spy thought. He hadn't taken that into accord.

"Wait a second, something is not right here.." One of the soldiers stepped forward. "Pharah, what is the Egyptian military's code of conduct?"

"Aw c'mon guys, I don't have time for this." He laughed but stopped when he saw that all the soldiers pointed their guns at him.

"Well, at least I got to look great!" He said before he pulled out his ambassador and shot one of the soldiers in the head. As the other Soldiers started firing at him, he dodged around the corner and reloaded his gun. There were four soldiers in total, one which Spy just had shot mercilessly in the face.

As the soldiers ran around the corner, Spy utilized the curve of the corner and got behind the man who entered first. They had similar suits to Pharah, but Spy knew that there was a unguarded spot around the neck area with enough space to dig his knife in. The soldier screeched in pain as Spy forced his knife all the way to his throat, making gurgling noises as blood filled his mouth. As for the second man of the trio, Spy knew that he was an Omnic, so he placed an electro sapper on his chest, stunning the Omnic man. The third man had just seen two of his friends die and another being disabled, which shocked him and made him pause for a second. Spy quickly ran for the stairs as the man hesitated.

The omnic had dropped down on its knees and were spasming because of the shocks the electro-sapper gave him, but he simply looked up to his comrade and made the decision for him.

"Don't worry about me, go after him!" the omnic spoke, sacrificing himself for the cause. The soldier nodded, mourning his dead friends wouldn't help the situation. After all, if he didn't catch the murderer, their deaths would have been for nothing. The last man of the squad ran for the stairs and quickly ran up them. In his hurry, he hadn't noticed that Spy had used the blind spot of the stairs and dropped around behind him. Before he even could react, Spy forced his knife into his neck, killing the man instantly.

Spy wiped of his knife with his handkerchief as he walked towards the omnic. He was still sitting on his knees, his arms hanging along the sides of his body. When Spy walked around to face him, he stared the omnic cold in the eyes. The omnic was spasming, but his head was still and his eyes looked terrified. If omnics were able to cry, Spy was sure the man would have done just that. According to his voice it sounded like he was sobbing. With a trembling and weak voice the omnic spoke.

"Yo-you are a monster."

"A necessary evil." Spy answered coldly before cutting the wires that ran along the omnic's throat, cutting of his last lifepower. The omnic fell backwards into the pool of blood that ran from the other man.

Spy sighed. Looking at the mess he had created, he walked past it and up the stairs, avoiding the corpse that laid there. He seemed emotionless and cold, but in reality he had just gotten used to the killing. Both mentally and physically, for any other man, this would have been a challenge.

 **Winston**

Winston grumbled and brushed the dust of his shoulders. He saw the explosion and how Pharah had gotten stuck behind the rubble. Tracer managed to blink through before everything had fallen down and joined him by his side.

"Winston! How are you holding up love?"She coughed due to the dust that still hung in the air.

"Fine, I can take these guys myself. I leave the running man to you."

Tracer hesitated, but decided that Winston had fought against worse odds before. "Aight, good luck." She said and blinked away before the sentry could notice her.

"Good luck, and don't die for god's sake."

"Now, I gotta deal with these children." Winston muttered, reached back and launched himself towards the three mercenaries with help from his jump pack. He appeared from the giant cloud of smoke, flying down from above landing a few metres in front of the them. When he heard that Heavy began revving up his minigun and the sentry beeped, he threw down his barrier protector. A huge sphere was created which acted as a layer of protection for Winston. The emitted shield would not last for long with all the firepower the enemy had, but it gave him a few seconds to react. Winston took in his surroundings and began creating a plan to take on the three men. He figured that the sentry gun was his biggest problem right now. Before the barrier was completely destroyed Winston jumped on top of the sentry, grabbed it with both his arms and ripped the turret in half with his massive strength. From the corner of his eye, he saw Engineer flee away. He had to take care of him so he couldn't build a new one.

He found Engineer hiding behind a dispenser with nothing but his shotgun. Winston tore the dispenser from where it stood, leaving a terrified Engineer on the ground slowly crawling away from him.

Before he could crush the little texan, he felt a stinging pain in his back. He looked back and saw Heavy shooting him in the back. His power suit couldn't take this sort of firepower and if he began taking critical direct damage, it would be the end of him. He had to use his trump card.

As the primal rage filled Winston's body and he began shining in bright red, the others started to be cautious. Heavy and Medic backed a bit when they saw this, but Medic still smiled when he saw the transformation.

Engineer ran for his life, but to no prevail. It took no more than a second for the enraged Winston to catch up with him. He picked up the man as easily as someone who plucked daisies from the soil. As Engineer struggled to break loose, the gorillas grip on him became stronger and stronger. You could hear his bones breaking followed by a painful scream that emptied Engineer's lungs.

"Medic!" Engineer cried out with a weak voice "Please!" But even if Medic wanted to help his friend it was too late. Winston used all his strength and threw Engineer across the room, straight through a window and out to the raging battlefield. If Engineer had survived Winston's rough treatment, the war that was going on outside would finish him off for sure.

Immediately after he had thrown away Engineer, Winston turned and charged towards the two remaining men. Medic wasted no time, he didn't know how long Winston would stay in that form and he didn't plan to stand around to find out. Frustrated about how fast he had crushed Engineer, both Heavy and Medic were eager to bring the gorilla down. As Winston approached, Medic flipped the switch on top of his medigun, and his skin turned shining red. The beam that was connected from the medigun to Heavy's heart sent through a warm jet of pure energy, ubercharging Heavy and rendering them both invincible. As Heavy's eyes flashed in bright yellow and his body gleamed red, he screamed on top of his lungs and threw his minigun to the side. Just as Winston was about to close his arms around Heavy's body as to grab him, Heavy was faster and grabbed the gorillas large body, threw his body back and suplexed Winston into the ground with all his strength.

But just as fast as he was slammed down, Winston got up again and aimed a punch at Heavy's head. He couldn't dodge, but since he was ubercharged, Heavy took no damage and responded with returning a hit at his opponent. Time seemed endless as Winston and Heavy exchanged fists in fury and anger, both of them shining of red light that shone up the entire room. After what seemed like five minutes of constant fighting, Winston's fury seemed to settle down, his primal rage returning to normal. Now it was a race of time. He had to kill the Medic first, or he would never be able to take down the big guy. Before he was returned to normal, Winston leapt past Heavy, toward the man that was hiding behind him. Not hesitating for a second, he grabbed the Medic and followed the same procedure as he had done with Engineer. He spun around and threw him out the window. Now, it was just him and the Russian left.

Winston calmed down and readjusted his glasses. "Well now that I've evened out the odds..." He begun to say, but then looked up at the man who were left. If Heavy was furious before, it was not even near how mad he looked at this moment. He gritted his teeth and had already revved up his minigun when Winston turned around. He spoke without blinking, looking straight into Winston's eyes.

"No one" He said slowly but clearly. "Touches... My…. DOKTOR!"

Heavy screamed and began firing at Winston with all his might. Firing at 10.000 rounds per minute, it was a weapon that made an enormous amount of damage, and Winston didn't have a chance to dodge the incoming bullets. Using the armor on his right arm as a partial shield, he avoided direct damage for about 4 seconds until the power suit shattered and the bullets made contact with his flesh.

Winston leapt once again, away from danger. He noticed how much his arm hurt. It was filled with bullets and his blood was everywhere. He grunted. He wouldn't be able to leap like that again since he put much of his strength in his arms when he jumped, and using his tesla cannon was now out of question. His only option was to escape.

Heavy laughed as he followed Winston's motion with his aim. When he landed, Winston immediately put down another barrier projector, as well as a smoke grenade inside. The sphere started filling up with smoke, not letting Heavy know what was going on inside. That didn't stop the Russian man, he kept firing on the gas filled ball.

"Heavy can't see you but knows you are in there!" Heavy shouted over the sound of his own gun. "COME OUT LITTLE BABY MAN."

Cracks were formed in the sphere as Heavy shot it and it finally shattered. As the barrier broke, the smoke that had been compressed in there spread out in the entire room in less than a second. Heavy miscalculated. The smoke that filled the room blocked his vision and also made its way down his lungs. He began to cough, pausing his frantic shooting. But when the smoke started to clear, Winston was gone.

With the help of the smokescreen, Winston had escaped deeper into the warehouse, and found a storage room which he entered. There, he sank down behind a large crate. He picked out some bandages to help him stop the bleeding, but he was already starting to bleed out. Not to mention all the bullets that were inside his arm, if he didn't die of blood loss, he would die of lead poisoning. As the pain spread his vision became blurry. At least he had taken down two of them, he thought before his vision darkened and he passed out.

 **Pharah**

Meanwhile, Pharah was dealing with her own problem. Demoman and Soldier had cornered her like a rat in a corner. She didn't know how capable these men were in battle, but it seemed like they trusted their own abilities. Using her jump jet, she flew up in the air, hovering over the two men. If she had to fight them, she should at least have the high ground. But when she looked down again, only one of them were still there. Soldier had used his rocket launcher to launch himself into the air, straight toward her. (In his hand, he held a shovel)

"This IS HOW YOU FLY, LADY" The man screamed and swinged something at her. If it wasn't for her helmet, the impact would knock her out, but now she only lost her balance and started falling to the floor from her hovering position. When she looked down at the spot that she would land, she noticed that the entire floor was covered in sticky grenades, another trap set up for her. It must have been Tavish who set out these bombs while Soldier distracted her, she decided. It was most likely him who set of those explosions in the ceiling a little while ago. Before she touched the ground however, she shot a concussive blast at the floor, pushing away the bombs and making her a safe place to stand on.

It was like she was trapped in a cage. The both men had control of both air and the ground, leaving her no real opening for attacking. She dashed up into the air again and fired rockets down on the two mercenaries. They dodged and returned fire with rockets and grenades, that swished past Pharah's ears, and as suspected, Soldier flung himself in the air towards her a second time, but this time she was prepared. When he was close enough she punched him right in his gut while she protected herself from the shovel swing with her left arm. But instead of hitting her with a shovel, Soldier took a firm grip around Pharah's helmet and she realized in the last second that he might snap her neck. Before that could happen, she disconnected her helmet from her suit so she could hover down to the floor again. Her head was now exposed, not protecting her from possible head injuries. She saw Soldier stand on the other side of the room, wearing her helmet instead of his own.

"THE FALSE PROPHET IS DOWN, REJOICE MEN!" Soldier shouted and posed himself. "NOW DROP DEAD AND GIVE ME TWENTY."

Pharah now knew the reason why he kept hitting her with a shovel. Either he was a total idiot, or he didn't fight seriously and were just mocking her, thus standing there taunting her with her own helmet.

"I'll show you," Phara got up on her feet "What happens to people who doesn't take a fight seriously!" She fired a rocket at the ceiling, creating her own escape route. Avoiding the rubble she flew up through the hole onto the second floor. Here she had two options.

If the two of them doesn't follow her, she could destroy the rest of the floor, burying them in hard concrete.

If they do follow her, she would corner them and use her "Trump card"

Her question got answered immediately. Both Demoman and Soldier popped out of the hole, and Pharah put her plan in action. As soon as Demoman and Soldier put their feet on the ground, she shot another concussive blast at their feet. The blast sent them both flying into the corner of the room. They both hit their head in the wall and sank down on the ground, slumped together in a pile. Now they were exactly where Pharah wanted them to be. Hovering in the air she activated her "Trump card".

At the press of a button, several slots in her suit opened up, revealing several rockets on standby. Suspended in midair, Pharah stretched out her arms and looked down at the two miserable men.

"JUSTICE RAINS FROM ABOVE" She shouted, and out of the slots a dozen of missiles flied out, all heading for the same corner. With all this firepower, Soldier and Demoman would end up like a pile of flesh and bones. They would be dead, if it weren't for a miracle.

Said miracle jumped in the way of the missiles, acting as a meat shield. Before the rockets hit however, the miracle used the compression blast of its flamethrower to redirect the missiles at its origin. Missiles collided with the walls around them, but the area that Soldier and Demoman sat in were completely clean. Pharah, however, took all the rockets that was thrown back at her head-on. She landed on her knees on the ground. Many systems in her Raptora suit had gone offline and there was cracks everywhere. The damage had also caused her fuel tank to spring a leak, she were not going to be able to use her jump jet again.

A few meters in front of her stood the Pyro, the creature that gave her chills down her spine even when it was behind bars. And now it was free. To be more detailed, it stood right in front of her with a flamethrower. No one moved for a long while, letting the silence fall over them. The only thing Pharah could hear was the distant gunfire and explosions from outside, as well as the deep muffled breathing of the pyro. She tried to look into the pyro's eyes, but all she could see was the cold deep darkness of the madman.

The first one to break the silence was Soldier. He walked up to Pyro and put his hand on their shoulder.

"Good job Pyro, I think I can take her myself from here."

Then the whole building shook as they heard an explosion, not too far away.

"Go help Spy! I think he will be needing assistance!"

Pyro simply responded with a thumb up then ran away in the direction of the offices.

As Pyro ran away, Pharah saw Soldier getting ready again. Demoman was still sitting by the wall, completely knocked out. His head was bleeding from the impact, a wound that Soldier avoided thanks to her own helmet, but there were still blood was running down Soldiers face, from his nose and mouth. Pharah guessed that her punch did at least break some ribs as he was coughing blood. She also figured that the rocket jumping that Soldier performed didn't come without consequences. Soldier wiped his face on his sleeve and pulled out his rocket launcher. She noticed that he wasn't smiling anymore.

"You're finally getting serious, huh?" She said, bracing herself for another battle.

 **Engineer**

Engineer was laying on his back in the middle of the battlefield. Both his arms and legs were broken, so there was no idea trying to get up. He was facing up and looking at the night sky. Several stars were visible even though the city was so bright. To his surprise, there weren't as much noise as it was a few seconds ago. He would have suspected that he might have gotten caught up in the intensive gunfire or maybe even trampled to death by the running soldiers. This outcome was really anticlimactic, but he didn't complain. He just kept staring at the stars.

That was until his companion arrived.

"Oh, Engineer. We will always miss you..." Medic showed up, blocking his vision. "I'll make sure we all remember you for your brave sacrifice" He faked a sob and tried to contain his laughter.

"Enough of that you darn asshole, help me up pal." Engineer gruntled. He didn't have the strength to joke around right now. Medic seemed unhurt at least. He must still have been ubercharged when Winston threw him out.

"Very vell mein freund." Medic said, but did what his friend asked him to. "But you should know, you look like a _Schildkröte_ , like a turtle on its back" he laughed.

Engineer ignored him and sighed. As the medibeam connected with him, he felt the warmth spread in his body. His limbs went numb and felt weak as butter for a moment, then he regained his control of them and noticed he could move his fingers again. The cuts all over his body which he got from the broken glass shards when he was thrown through the window all healed up and disappeared.

When he finally stood up and looked around, his surroundings surprised him. All around him people was laying down on the ground, just like him, except these people seemed to have gotten fatal injuries and died. It didn't surprise him that there were dead bodies, he knew that war came with a cost, but what surprised him was that there seemed to be no survivors at all in this general area. Seeing the dead people, he noticed that there were both Talon and Overwatch soldiers. Was it possible that there had been a fight where no one had won? Or was it possibly a third party that had taken both out?

He looked up towards the silo where Sniper was sitting, and very well, there he was.

"OIIII"

"SHHHH" Sniper hushed him. "Shut up you bloody wanker, he might still be around!"

"Who-?" Engineer started to ask, but then he realized the answer. "The one who took 'em all out?"

Sniper simply nodded, still looking very cautious.

"I figured I could let him take them on by himself, but…. But-" Sniper seemed to clench his teeth, straining to actually say it, Like it was a real burden.

"What?" Engineer asked confused.

"It was so easy for him, It was like he didn't need to aim at all. He hit bullseye on every target." Sniper shouted angrily, slamming his fist into the wall of the silo.

Engineer knew that Sniper took pride in his aim like it was his own baby. He often complained and mocked the others when they blatantly missed their targets.

"It's like, if they have this new technology they have the upper hand, it's _cheating_ " His whole life he had been an efficient assassin, and he had never met anyone who could simply "lock onto people", without any skill whatsoever. Sniper had a motto; Skill always beats luck, but in this case, it was neither. Engineer on the other hand, seemed fascinated.

"Why didntcha snipe him down then? I could have wanted to take a look on that gun." Engineer figured that his sentry gun used similar technology, but still, it would be nice to have some tech to disassemble and research.

"Piss off" muttered the Australian. "I let him roam free since he seemed to attack both of the sides."

"Heck, maybe we could convince him to work with us, you would like that wouldn't ya?"

Sniper squinted down at Engineer as to say 'piss off' once again.

Engineer then noticed that Medic was looking towards the warehouse. He thought the doctor would have been interested in the dead bodies on the ground, but it was obvious that there were something else bothering him.

"We should join up with heavy again" he said, looking back at the warehouse with a worried expression.

"Aw, you worried about your boyfriend are you?" Engineer chuckled and smirked at Medic.

"Don't get jealous." Medic raised an eyebrow "I treat all my patients equally."

"Oi snipes!" Engineer shouted "we're going back inside! Tell us over the radio if there is anything."

"Actually… There was something I needed to talk to you about." Medic put a hand on Engineers shoulder. "In private."

Engineer looked confused. Medic had turned serious all of sudden and that meant it must be something crucially important.

"...Enlighten me" Engineer said carefully.

Medic took a deep breath and began to talk. "It's about s-"

Before he could say anything more, there was a huge explosion from the direction of the warehouse. It shook the ground and when the men looked over at the building, they saw a huge hover ship descending down towards the facility. Engineer turned over to look what had happened to Sniper and saw that he was running towards the windows of the warehouse. He had no idea what Sniper saw, but he could tell he was startled. Soon after, he heard Sniper's voice from his earpiece.

" It's Talon, and this time it looks like the real players have arrived."

* * *

As said, this is part one of "Smoke and mirrors", I hope I will be able to finish the second part soon, but work is stressing me out and I try to write as much as I can! Hopefully I will get used to my new job and start releasing chapters on a certain day of the week or something similar.

As you may have noticed, this chapter is a bit more graphically violent than the previous ones, so I will warn you that next chapter will contain "Major character death" if that is a trigger for anyone.

Next time some new characters will be introduced, and I'm sure you know who I am talking about. There is also just two chapters left until this "story arc" will end and the story continues in a different direction.

I love you all for following my story and it really means the world to me that there are people appreciating it!


	5. Smoke and mirrors part 2

**Engineer**

With the help of his wrench, Engineer forced the giant metal gate open. Inside the warehouse, the smoke was still dissolving and they saw a coughing Heavy in the middle of the giant room. Medic ran over to his russian friend to check on him. Heavy seemed to be ok, but Winston however were nowhere to be seen, which worried Engineer. Not knowing the enemy's location was a huge setback.

"Where did your friend go?" Asked Engineer with a humorous yet worried tone.

"He ran away." Heavy spoke in monotone "But he won't go far, he wasn't able to avoid bullet" he smiled proudly at the others, like a dog that proudly brought a bone to its owner.

"We shouldn't be standing in the middle of the warehouse when the Talon operatives arrives here. We should also look for Winston to make sure he is out of action." Engineer said. "Let's go into the storage."

Together with Medic and Heavy, Engineer ran into the storagehouse. While they ran for it, he looked down at the other side of the warehouse where a giant hole in the ceiling had appeared and a giant dropship were visible, blocking the night sky behind it. On the black ship, a big red claw were painted on the front to signify the terrorist group Talon. The whole vibe was unsettling and creepy. Through the fire and smoke that the ship created, Engineer could see at least a dozen soldiers hop down from it and started running after them. He slammed the door to the storage room shut before they would be able to open fire at them.

"Darn, they will be here in no time!" Engineer swore and hid behind the wall next to the door. "Erectin a sentry!" He shouted and threw down his toolkit to quickly build a small version of his sentrygun. After finishing his small defense bot, he hid behind a crate and waited, but no one seemed to run through the door.

Engineer carefully slid open the door to see if the coast was clear, and what he saw shocked him. Just as outside, all the soldiers was laying on the ground, but on among the bodeis he saw something new. In the middle of the room stood a man with a large weapon in his hand. The man looked very old, but Engineer bet his age was compensated with battle experience. If he had taken out everyone on his own, Engineer was sure that he was a worthy opponent. He had grey hair that started to look black due to the ash that was in the air. He had a scar running from his forehead, but the rest of his face was hidden by a mask with a red visor that shone with red light. The mask and the rest of his outfit had a blue color scheme that matched his gun. He seemed to have a leather jacket with the big red number '76' on his back. It looked like it could part of some sort of biker outfit. As Engineer checked out the man, he noticed that he began to turn and walk his way toward him. Engineer quickly closed the door again. Shit, he needed to hide, if the things that Sniper said about his gun were true, they would be in big trouble.

"Guys! Hide yourselves, there's someone incoming." He whispered over to Medic and Heavy. He quickly disassembled the sentry and shoved it down into his toolkit. He hid behind a crate and hoped the man hadn't seen him. He held his breath and didn't move an inch. When the man entered the room, he could feel his presence and how he looked out over the room with his bright red sight. He seemed to stand still a while before checking behind one of the crates, and then he left through a spiral staircase that led up to the second floor, where Soldier and Pharah were currently fighting.

When the sounds of his footsteps started to fade, Engineer exhaled and stood up once again. He started to wonder what the man was looking for and went to the spot he had checked. Heavy and Medic were already there, examining the area behind the box. It looked like a minor crime scene. There were bloodstain all over the ground, used and bloody bandages was everywhere. Medic touched the blood and felt that it hadn't completely dried. Whoever it was that sat here left just a moment ago, maybe right before they went into the room. Medic picked up something from the ground and rubbed it between his thumb and index finger.

"It's hair from a gorilla's fur, this must be where he hid."

"That's kinda, eh, specific?" Engineer remarked and raised an eyebrow at Medic.

"Trust me, I know my endangered animals." Medic smiled back at his friend.

Right in the middle of the mess was a small unit that stood up, emitting a blue light around the area. Engineer picked it up and looked at it more closely. It was a round tube, with three legs that supported it where it stood on the ground. The emitted area seemed to heal everything around them. It was like a small portable healing station.

"Huh, interesting." Medic said and turned towards Engineer "Why don't you research that for me? Maybe I will get good use for it."

Engineer agreed, it would also be a great upgrade to his dispenser. Maybe it wouldn't be able to supply anyone with ammo like the dispenser could, but carrying around a small healing station at all times wouldn't be a bad thing. He put the small contraption in his toolbox.

"Well, the monkey is loose again, we better find him before he causes trouble for anyone else." Heavy urged them to go. "He supposedly went out that exit" Heavy nodded towards the door that led out to the construction building.

Engineer started to follow his colleagues, but stopped when he noticed something that caught his attention. On the crate which Winston had hidden behind, was a text that read 'SST Laboratories Siege Automaton E54' 'Bastion'. It was a very large box, maybe 3 cubic meters, with a 2 meters being its height. A wide grin spread across Engineers face.

"You guys go ahead, I have something I want to take care of."

 **Pharah**

Pharah breathed heavily as Pyro left them. The giant explosion that shook the building worried her, it couldn't be anything good and she should probably check it out. But right now, the greatest threat were the man in front of her. Jane Doe was on top of her priority list.

Soldier shouted his warcry and charged toward her with his rocketlauncher locked and loaded. Using the rocket launcher in close combat wasn't a very good plan. It would probably hurt Soldier more than it would hurt her, but Soldier's tactics were always shoot first, skip asking.

He furiously fired a rocket at her, which she was ready to dodge head on. Unfortunately, Soldier wasn't aiming for her face, but rather the ground beneath her. The explosion sent her flying into the air with her chest against the ceiling. Before she landed on the ground, Soldier was already over her, both his fist tied together and he slammed them into her gut, driving her down into the floor. She could feel the pain in her back as she slammed onto the cold hard floor. Her Raptora IV suit was intact, but several programs malfunctioned so all damage couldn't be absorbed.

She coughed and could feel the warm taste of iron form in her mouth. Blood was filling her mouth and she coughed it up on her own suit, leaving red splatter on the blue surface. Her ears were ringing and she could only hear the warning announcement of her suit. Error screens usually popped up in front of her, but since her helmet got stolen, the problems would be much harder to solve.

Pharah tried to get up quickly, but noticed that something heavy on her chest stopped her from moving. She looked up and saw Soldier standing over her, his dirty leather boot driven down on her torso, stopping her from moving anywhere. She tried to reach for her rocketlauncher, but Soldier was standing on her right arm as well, putting his entire weight on her.

"A a a, sweetheart" Soldier laughed waving his finger in front of her, like she was a little disobedient child. "You're not going anywhere."

Pharah was stuck under his boot, struggling to break free. "I didn't think you were the guy to care about your comrades" she coughed.

"I don't, I just want to be out here and crack some skulls. Me and demo actually made a bet on who would be able to defeat you first. That's why I let you take him down. But what soldier leaves his men behind to die? Then I have no one to brag about my victory to!"

Pharah tried to understand the crazy mercenary. Deep down she thought that he really cared about his companions, but didn't want to admit it. She laughed. They maybe weren't so different after all. They both were protective of their friends, but for different reasons. Pharah had a long time ago been pulled between prioritizing the mission or to protect her squad, a decision that made her save Saleh's life.

When she snapped back to reality she noticed Soldier were still rambling.

"In fact, why don't I bury you right here?" He unfastened his shovel from his belt and brought it toward her face. The shovel was resting on the edge of her suit, right before her throat. It was dirty and blunt, but Pharah suspected that even though it wouldn't cut her head of, it would still do a considerate amount of damage if he put all his strength into it. She could suffocate or it could at least leave a pretty nasty scar and infection.

Before Soldier could push down the shovel, Pharah lifted her left arm and shot a concussive blast into his chest, sending him flying once again. Now she could safely use her rocketlauncher, it was just to keep him at this distance.

She quickly got up and picked up her rocketlauncher and aimed it at the wall which where she had sent him. There, in the corner sat Demoman still unconscious. She hesitated for a moment. 'Why do I hesitate?' she thought. It was not like she felt sorry for him. Then she remembered Demoman's genuine smile when he told her his stories. Had it really been fake? In another world could they still be sitting by the bar, talking and dreaming their worries away?

Then she heard Demoman laugh.

"Taking pity on me? Never underestimate your enemy." He looked up at her, grinning "Didn't you listen to Soldier? We made a bet. How's your back by the way?"

Pharah suddenly noticed the added weight on her back. She tried to reach around but it was too late. The sticky bombs that stuck to Pharah's back exploded and sent her flying head first into the wall where Demoman sat. Before she could get up she felt something cold and sharp rest at her neck. She could also hear distant weak whispers from the same direction.

"Heads….heads..." Suddenly the sharp object was lifted, and that was enough for Pharah to roll to the side and evade the blade that Demoman brought down.

She got up from the ground and looked at the man, and a blade was exactly what he was carrying. Demoman was holding a large double edged sword that seemed to faintly glow with a green light.

"It's called the Eyelander, It's a cursed sword that has an eternal thirst to severed heads. Sometimes, it has a will of its own. The existence of this sword is another reason that I have this eyepatch." Demoman pointed at his concealed eye.

"Aw man, you make me sound so strict." The sword whose name was Eyelander suddenly spoke. "Don't listen to him girl, all the killing was done by his hands."

"Ye see? I dun have total control over this thing. Ye better watch out." Demoman gritted his teeth.

He slashed at her again, but she evaded the slow heavy swings easily by jumping back. That's when she heard the two men behind her. Thinking about it, Soldier hadn't tried to lay a hand on her since Demoman woke up again. She glanced back and saw Soldier fighting another man which she didn't recognize. The man had grey hair and had a red glowing visor. He was running straight at Soldier from the stairway, gun in his hand. Then she realized who it was, it was the vigilante they had been looking for. He was known as '76', a vigilante soldier who had been stealing Overwatch tech to use for himself. She had heard that he had been seen in different locations all over the globe, but what was he doing here? Was he also after the gauntlet, or did he have other motives? Either way, he was an enemy of Overwatch, so she would eventually have to take him down.

She glanced back and saw the blade swing back at her again. She ducked and felt the blade sweep over her head. The sword laughed maniacally while chanting 'Heads, heads' cheerily. Pharah stepped back and stood now back to back with Soldier. She swung her fist backwards toward him, but Soldier was ready, he grabbed her arm and flung her around using her as a shield against 76's attack, but instead of firing normal rounds, he fired a cluster of rockets that hit Pharah's armor and sent her and Soldier flying into the wall. Demoman was now swinging his sword at the man, but he evaded. When the sword went down, 76 aimed his boot at it and kicked it away. Demoman turned around to retrieve his sword, but Pharah was already up. She surprised Demoman by punching him into the air. She used the last power of her jump pack to boost her punch. Demoman went flying into the ceiling and were knocked out for real this time.

She looked back at Soldier and confirmed that he too were knocked out. She was breathing heavily, taking out those two hadn't been an easy task, and without the distraction that 76's sudden appearance created, she never would have been able to do it. She looked around, but it seemed like 76 had disappeared once again. A sudden tone called her back to reality. It came from her helmet that lay on the floor beside Soldiers unconscious body. She picked it up and put it over her head. The warning signals were still active, but she ignored them and opened the distress call. It was from Winston.

"Farehaa, if you're hearing this, leave the building. I'm out to get reinforcements, the building is on fire and based on all the damage the structure has taken, I'm sure it might fall together. I don't want you to die like Jackson did! Widowmaker and Reaper just appeared, and I don't want you to take them on yourself."

Before Winston could finish the sentence, she hung up. That was all she wanted to hear. If Talon was here, there was someone who would know about her mother.

 **Sniper**

Sniper hurried over the walkway to see what the explosion was caused by. He entered the manufacturing on the second floor and saw the big dropship hover over a hole in the ceiling. A land bridge had been lowered and several men appeared with the red Talon symbol glowing on their right collarbone, shining on their black suits like a golden medal. After all the soldiers, someone who distinguished himself from the crowd exited the ship. He was wearing a dark leather cloak with a hood, and under the hood he wore the mask of a skull, concealing his face.

"Fancy bloody arsehole who thinks he can walk around dressed like that." He lined up his rifle so he could see the red dot on the man's mask then firmly but carefully he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit bullseye and sniper grinned. "That is how a skilled shot looks like" he muttered to himself thinking back at the man outside.

But when Sniper took a closer look he saw something odd. Instead of falling to the ground like any other dead man would, the man with the cloak stood still, and that was when Sniper noticed. The place where the bullet should have been, there was a black hole constantly expanding full of smoke. Not the kind of pink cloud of blood you would expect, but rather a black mist that slowly filled up the hole until the man's face was whole again, mask and everything.

Sniper took cover once again and cursed. There was another one? This place seemed to be filled with weird people. Sniper had always thought that shoot head, get kill was the way to go, but now there seem to be people that didn't follow those rules.

He peaked up again and the man was gone. He spoke into his earpiece to all other Mercs.

"One especially dangerous Talon operative is in the building! He is able to turn…." was the only thing he could say before he felt the presence of a red dot on his forehead. He dodged down again but he could hear the bullet fly past him and he felt the bullet graze his cheek.

So, they had a sniper too, huh? He thought for himself. I might take this as a challenge.

There was no way that he would peek out now, he would be as good as dead. Instead, he kept hiding behind the steel beam. He picked out a glass jar filled with yellow liquid, weighed it in his hand to figure out how much force he would put in the throw. Then he tried to remember where the woman stood. Then he threw it backwards over his shoulder. The jar flew in a perfect curve and was now over her. As Sniper suspected, it caught her attention. She would now probably think that it was a grenade and if she was a good sniper, she would attempt to shoot it, but if she were even better, she would know that it was a trap and avoid it. Because if she shot the jar, Sniper piss would drench her and he could get the opening for a shot.

He listened carefully and when he heard the noise of glass shatter he got up again and looked through his scope. To his surprise, the woman had jumped of the platform, but she didn't land on the floor underneath her. Instead, she had a grappling hook that she had hooked onto the ceiling, and now she swung across the room towards another platform. Sniper reacted immediately and shot the spot where her grapple hook stuck to the ceiling. The woman fell but landed on both her feet and immediately scoped up at Sniper's location. Both of them fired at once, both missing their target by an inch. Widowmakers shot flew barely past Snipers right temple. Sniper's shot hit closer to Widowmaker's head, it hit her straight in the side of her visor, destroying the gadget.

What Sniper didn't expect what that she continued to fire even after the first shot. Due to Sniper semi successful shot, she missed her seconds shot as well. Sniper dove to the side and reloaded his gun. She didn't seem to need to reload her gun between her shots, which was a important observation.

Sniper didn't really have the time to analyse his enemy. He tried step by step to figure out her skill, how her weapon worked and what tactics she used. The detail that her skin had a unnatural purple tone made her extra visible to the naked eye, and it was something that Sniper found extremely weird. If she was a professional sniper, she wouldn't want to stand out like she did.

One thing was for sure, she wasn't anything like the snipers that he had encountered before. Being in the future without any knowledge was a really big handicap.

Both of them were excellent snipers that could take out any enemy on really far distances. But since they both was so skilled, none of them succeeded to get in a lethal shot. They were doing a mexican standoff that lasted for several minutes. Sniper shot Widowmaker in the thigh, she returned it with a shot to the shoulder, and so on.

Sniper's hand was trembling, rather from anticipation than fear, but he tried to stay calm and focus. He held his breath and listened carefully to his surroundings.

Then suddenly, Scout and Tracer appeared from one of the doorways, running in at full speed. Sniper tried to shout out to Scout, but it was too late. He already saw the red dot on Scout's head and heard the gunfire.

 **Spy**

Spy heard what Sniper said, but he didn't think about it. A man who could turn? Into what? There were some specific information that he was missing he bet, but there was no point in going back now. After going up the stairs he got up to the main offices. There were several rooms that could contain the gauntlet.

Then finally, he saw it. At the end of the long corridor there was a huge glass case with metal corners. Inside was a huge glove that shined in gold. Seeing the Australium gauntlet, Spy froze on the spot. Were they really going to get it with so easy measures? Where they already going to find their ticket home? There didn't seem to be any security systems installed, since it was a factory but Spy still thought that Overwatch would go their way to install something to protect this gem. Spy guessed that they didn't so no unwanted attention would be dragged here.

Just when he thought it would be an easy task, Spy saw something float into the room. Dark smoke poured down from the ceiling and started to take form. When the smoke disappeared, a man was standing with his back turned against Spy. This could be the man that Sniper was talking about. Without knowing his abilities, it would be risky to fight him head on. Spy considered his possibilities and how he would approach the man. He remembered seeing a woman step out with him from the ship. Hopefully they were close enough in ranks to speak freely to one another, otherwise Spy would be forced to take countermeasures.

Disguising himself as the so called Widowmaker, Spy ran down the hall toward the man. His disguise kit came with other benefits than just disguising him, like finding out the name of the person. The man in front of him was known for Widowmaker as the "Reaper". Any real name was hidden, but Spy figured that nicknames would be enough.

"Good, you found it, let's get out of here." Spy spoke when he was close enough. Just after he spoke, Spy noticed that he was talking in a french accent. First he thought that his disguiser somehow had missed to transfer voice data, but then he realized that Widowmaker probably was French, just like him.

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to take care of those kids and that sniper." Reaper responded with a deep rustling voice, like his throat was really dry.

"Already done" Spy said with his new voice. "They were no match for me."

When reaper glanced around, he could see that the man was wearing a white skull mask beneath the dark purple cloak. Spy tried his hardest to identify the man's face, but he couldn't even see his eyes under the mask.

"... What are you waiting for? We need to get back to HQ" Spy urged the man carefully.

Reaper continued to turn around and then spoke slowly.

"Who…. are you?"

Somehow Reaper had seen through Spy's disguise, so just as last time he quickly pulled his ambassador and shot Reaper in the head, but unlike the others, instead of making a bullet hole streaming with blood, his head dissolved into a cloud of smoke. The entire mass of the man disappeared and smoke began covering the entire floor. Spy were on the tip of his toes, the man could appear anywhere. He reached inside his suit and picked out his butterfly knife. If his gun wouldn't do any damage, he just had to find the sweet spot to where he could stick his knife. Then he used his watch to turn invisible.

The room seemed to be empty for a long while. The first to reapper was Reaper, emerging from the smoke. As fast as a snake, Spy was behind him and tried to stab the man, but as he brought his knife down he just stabbed empty air. He swung his knife around like a crazy man, trying to find where his solid body was hidden.

Spy heard Reaper's body form behind him, and dodged immediately before Reaper could shoot him. Spy turned invisible again to hide from the man.

"Like a stubborn insect" Reaper said calmly. "But you won't be able to hide!"

Suddenly, Reaper began circling while shooting like a crazy man, red lasers flying into every corner of the room, and Spy noticed something different. Reapers movement was so fast and blurry that it looked like several men in the same spot. Spy waited until Reaper had emptied both guns of their clip until he emerged from his hiding spot. Still invisible, spy sneaked up behind Reaper and raised his knife. Then, in a moment of a millisecond, Reaper turned around and grabbed Spy by his collar and threw him down on the ground.

Spy lost his breath as he was slammed into the floor. He dropped his knife and he could hear it fall to the ground with a clinging sound. Spy tried desperately to take hold of something and grabbed the ankles of the man that stood over him.

"I must praise you for avoiding my 'death blossom' but your game of hide and seek ends here" Reaper spoke as he aimed his guns towards Spy's chest and fired.

 **Tracer**

It didn't take long for Tracer to catch up with Scout. Thanks to her blinking abilities she was able to fly behind him with incredible speed. The Scout had run into the manufacturing building, a large building full of robot arms that worked on conveyor belts. There were cables and wires everywhere, running up the walls and along the ground. She reflected that this factory didn't have a safe working environment, but to be fair the facility had been abandoned for twenty years and the staff was mainly programmed robots. The room was dark, since it's interior didn't supply much light of itself, and the outside would be pitch black if it wasn't for all the fighting that was going on.

When she reached the middle of the room, Scout was already waiting for her. He was standing on top of a large machine which seemed to fill the purpose of assembling all the parts into the finished product. Scout was standing with his bat over his shoulder, and he threw his ball up and down in his other hand.

"Finally, I was starting to think that you wouldn't accept my offer." Scout said and forced a yawn. "I really started to get tired of all the waiting. Hope you're warmed up cuz Imma start now."

It was then the hunt started.

Scout threw the ball up high in the air and then swung his bat all the way back and then hit the ball with full force. In the moment of impact, the air shattered and the ball went down to a quarter of its size, storing up a massive amount of potential energy that transferred into acceleration. The travel speed of the ball was faster than a bullet, but as Tracer saw it coming, she quickly blinked to the side, barely evading the deadly baseball. The ball hit the floor and rolled away. Tracer looked back at Scout, but it seemed like it was the only ball he had, so he started to run of again. Tracer followed close behind.

"Stop chasing me! I told you that I was already taken!" Scout desperately screamed behind him as she approached. Scout's base speed was faster, but thanks to Tracer's blinking abilities, she could keep up with him.

"What are you talking about?" Tracer replied "Besides, I find that hard to believe!"

Scout took a sharp corner behind a machine and disappeared out of sight.

Without Tracer realising, her opponent had showed up on her left and before she could react he fired his shotgun at her. The bullets buried deep in her side, and the impact made her fly far to the right and she landed clumsily on her front. She felt that she had scraped her knees on the cement floor, so her pants was ruined and she had abrasions on both knees. But compared to the wound in her side, her knees wasn't hurting at all. She was holding her gut with one hand, trying to stop the bleeding, but to no avail the blood was running out of her hand and out on the floor.

She quickly stood up again, but before she could notice, Scout was already in front of her. She saw the bat swinging right at her face, but she had no time to evade or stop it.

"Boink!" Scout exclaimed as the bat hit her right in the face. The hard bat crushed the bones in her nose and gave her a serious concussion. She flew a meter back and landed again, this time on her back.

"BOOM! How d'ya like that?" Scout crouched by her with a cocky smile.

Then, to Scout's surprise, Tracer's chest started to glow in a bright blue light, and suddenly her body was gone. Scout stood up and looked confused around him. He froze when he felt a gun press against the back of his head. He gulped when he heard that british accent he thought was so beautiful. Scout glanced back and saw that the girl was standing behind him, completely healthy, like she was just a few seconds ago.

"Drop your weapon" She urged, and just as she commanded, Scout dropped his scattergun to the ground.

"Now, answer my questions sincerely. Are you working with Talon?" She continued. She wanted to ask some questions alone, when Winston or Pharah wasn't there to interrupt her.

"Wha.. No! I don't even know who those guys are." Scout stuttered awkwardly, holding his hands uncomfortably in the air.

"Then why are you guys even here"

"For the australium"

Tracer frowned

"Ya know, you talked about that golden gauntlet thing, ye thats the one we're after." He tried to explain.

"So is Talon, So you are working with them after all."

"Waiwaiwaiwait no!" Scout panicked. "We're doing our own thing."

"Then why do you need the Australium?"

"I dunno actually… To get home I guess."

There was a brief pause when they both were quiet, both deep in thought.

"You have no idea about the history of this gauntlet" Tracer finally broke the silence.

"It was used by a villain years ago to destroy the peace in this city, it has a big value in the hands of criminals."

Scout continued being quiet which annoyed her.

"You don't know anything do you?"

Scout gulped and confessed. "Ye-Yeah guess you're right… The more reason we want to get home as soon as possible."

More awkward silence.

"Hey, you don't mind if I take a drink? My throat is getting dry." Scout said, and lowered one of his hands inside his pocket and brought out a can.

Tracer quickly grabbed the can out of Scout's hands. "What is this? It's not poison, it it?"

"Why don't you try it?" Scout grinned.

It looked like a usual soft drink. There wasn't any trigger or pin on it, so it couldn't be a grenade or a gas weapon.

"Fine, but you're going to answer all of my questions."

Tracer heard the sound of a can opening and the hiss of carbon dioxide. Before she could react, Scout had already gulped down the drink and thrown the can on the ground. He started running again and Tracer instinctively decided to take the shot, but it was like she had shot his afterimage. The boy was now so swift that none of her shots connected. Even in the moment when Tracer used her blink, she could still be hit, so how could this even be possible?

Cursing about how he was able to trick her, she followed him close behind.

It felt like an eternity since they started running. None of them showed any sign of exhaustion, they just continued hunting each other like a cat-rat game. This was their dance of death, firing on each other while their feet lightly tapped the ground as they flew past the environment. They ran outside, through the raging battlefield. Though the explosions roared in their ears and bullets swished past them, they ignored it and just kept focus on themselves. They had only eyes for one another.

Tracer noticed that everytime she successfully shot Scout, his momentum stopped and he seemed to slow down a little every time, but he always succeeded to pick up his pace again.

When they ran into the warehouse, Winston, Heavy, Engineer and Medic were all gone, but they saw two other people exchanging shots over their heads. Sniper and Widowmaker were fighting each other when they entered, and Tracer couldn't help to look up at the French woman.

"Amelie... " She said under her breath. Amelie Lacroix had formerly been the wife of a Overwatch. His name was Gerard Lacroix and he was a well known hero that was loved by many. That was why Talon kidnapped his wife, to bring him out once for all. He gathered a squad to save his wife and it went surprisingly well. Amelie was saved and brought to Overwatch's swiss headquarters. The day she regained consciousness was the same day as the incident were the headquarters blew up. In the aftermath, Amelie's husband was found dead, shot in the head by his own gun. Tracers friend and colleague Angela Ziegler came to the conclusion that it was Amelie Lacroix herself who murdered him. She explained that she must have been brainwashed by Talon, which explained why it was so easy for Overwatch to take her back.

She paused in her memories when she saw where Amelie was aiming. It wasn't straight for her, but rather a few meters in front of her. And that's when she saw the red dot on Scout's head.

Tracers thought process sped up to it's maximum. If Amelie was attempting to kill Scout, that meant that they weren't sided with Talon? If that was the case, would that mean that Scout told the truth? In any case, if Talon wanted them dead it would be safe to assume that these people were the enemy of Talon, and in that case a possible ally.

All these thoughts flowed through Tracers brain in less than a second, because that was all the time she had to make a decision. Without hesitating, Tracer blinked forward when she heard the gunshot, and arrived in perfect time to block the bullet before it reached Scout.

 **Reaper**

The impostor who Reaper shot was laying still on the ground. He had just shot the man four times in the gut, and he was bleeding immensely. He felt the grip around his ankles loosen as the man's hands fell to the floor. This guy had been a pain in the ass to find, but when he did, it didn't take more than one shot to finish him off. Shooting the man four times was a overkill, but Reaper had no intentions to save any bullets. This would be his big breakthrough. He needed to succeed with this mission in order to get along with the higher Talon officers. Climbing the ranks would give him the ability to use more advanced tech, and he needed that in order to achieve his personal goals. He briefly removed his mask to wipe of some sweat on his forehead. He froze in place when he heard someone approach behind him from the long open corridor.

He put his mask on and turned around. Reaper reached inside his coat and brought out two fresh shotguns from the dark void that existed inside his cloak. Aiming down the corridor, Reaper saw the outline of the person standing there. His eyesight was blurry and he tried to identify the person down the hallway. It was still too early for him to fight Jack,

but he didn't know how wrong he was. At the far end of the corridor stood no man, neither a woman. It was something that no one had been able to identify or explain in its entire life. Call it a monster shaped like a human, but right now it's face was hidden behind a gasmask in which it seemed to breathe heavily through. However, Reaper was not aware of the history of this creature, thus not being as afraid as he should be.

Reaper stood still and aimed down the hallway. His obvious choice of actions would be to pick up the gauntlet and get out of there, but turning his back to the hallway didn't seem like a good idea. Reaper coughed and he noticed how dry his throat was. Had he been holding his breath for a long time without realising it? That was when he felt the rising temperature in the room. His clothes felt sticky against his skin and his cloak felt heavy. He looked around the room and saw that random parts in the room had combusted and started to catch fire. The fire spread rapidly around him and the temperature continued to rise. He looked back at the Pyro, who were approaching slowly, taking one step at a time. Reaper was now breathing heavily, each breath he took felt like it would burn his mouth. He tried to think reasonably.

This must have been the work of that person, he even looked like a pyromaniac. But it didn't carry any weapons, in fact, it had dropped them in the other end of the corridor when their eyes first met, or when they first saw each other through their masks rather.

Pyro's emotionless expression scared Reaper, he tried to fire his hellfire shotguns at the creature, but he noticed that both of them had jammed because of the heat. The whole room was now on fire and Reaper started to realise that fleeing was the better option. What was this fire? Was it an 'ability'? In that case, it was like nothing he had seen before.(Nothing like his 'Death blossom' Developing and mastering an ability took ages.)

Reaper turned into his wraith form and grabbed the gauntlet from the broken case. Before he left, ha glanced back and saw Pyro pick up the body of the man whom he just had killed.

 **Scout**

Scout didn't understand what had happened. He had heard a gunshot and suddenly Tracers body was over him. He looked at her unconscious body, trying to figure out what had happened, and then he saw it. The device that was mounted on Tracers chest was completely destroyed. There was a huge crack in the glass surface and it didn't glow with the blue, bright light anymore.

She had taken a bullet for him, but why? They were enemies, or weren't they? Scout was confused. That was when Tracers body suddenly shone up with a bright light, and the next second she was gone. Scout looked around to see if she'd appear out of nowhere like she had before, but she never did. All that was left of her was the broken device and her orange-tinted goggles that were laying on the floor. When Scouts senses finally returned to reality, he noticed that there was fire everywhere around him, clinging to the walls and on crates. He also noticed that Sniper was shouting at him.

"GO! I'll cover you!" Sniper Shouted down at him, but he didn't have to. Widowmaker was already on her way up into the dropship already. Together with her was the man that Sniper had seen before, and this time he was carrying the gauntlet in his hands. Sniper lined up his rifle and tried to shoot the man once again, but the man was made of smoke and no bullets pierced his skin.

"Fuck it" Sniper muttered and jumped down to where Scout was. "C'MON, GET MOVIN" he urged him. The fire was spreading at an incredible speed and the room started to fill up with deadly smoke. Scout picked up Tracers device and goggles and followed Sniper toward the exit. A big flame loomed in front of them that blocked the path to the exit. Without stopping, Sniper threw his jarate at the flame, extinguishing enough for them to jump through, out into the cold night.

They landed on their stomachs, and when they looked up, they noticed how Demoman, Engineer, Heavy and Medic already was there. Another thing they noticed was how a few dozen Overwatch officers was surrounding them, pointing their guns at their heads. Winston and Pharah was there, looking rough. All the mercenaries was on their knees, Winston had taken their weapons away so they couldn't fight back. Some of the Overwatch officers turned their guns at Sniper and Scout and motioned them to join their friends.

"Sir someone is coming!" One of the soldiers shouted, and everyone looked back towards the entrance.

Scout saw the silhouette of Pyro walking out of the building, holding something that looked like a man in his arms. Without grabbing him, they let Pyro through into the circle. Pyro dropped what he was holding carefully on the ground, and when everyone saw what it was, they couldn't believe their eyes. The body that was laying on the ground looked like it would belong to the Spy, but with all the burns covering his body, it could be anyone. Spy had a large hollow hole in his chest with parts of his ribcage sticking out of it. His intestines were stuck in place, but only thanks to the the fire that had burned them in place. The rest of his body was covered with burn marks and the most of his suit had burnt away. His face was the worst part of it. The fire had melted away his flesh and it looked like many chunky pieces of meat had burnt away. His face looked like a real mess and most of his hair had burnt of. It was weird to see the usually well dressed and handsome Spy completely ruined.

Medic leaned forwards to listen " I can still hear him breathing!" Medic exclaimed. "I can still save him, give me back my medigun." He turned towards Winston and pleaded to him to get back his medigun, but Winston had other things to worry about. He was looking straight at Scout.

"Where is Lena?" He asked, trying to remain calm. "Where is Tracer?" He had been worried about her since the fire started.

It was quiet for a long time, the only thing you could hear was the roaring flames and the crashes from the building starting to fall together. Scout was still shocked about the incident. Had she died?

After a while Scout held out his shaking hands. "Because of me she..." his trembling voice went off. He opened his palms and revealed the broken device and the goggles. Scout's eyes were wet and they were staring into the void as he spoke.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" Winston roared. He wasn't able to contain his calm anymore.

Medic continued to plead "Dr. Harold Winston, please contain yourself." Medic was trying to calm him down. "There are still men inside that building who needs help, your men! I am able to assist if you just give me back my medigun."

Pharah realised that there were truth in the man's words. Her squad that were trapped behind the concrete wall was still missing, and she feared that they were still in there somewhere.

"Winston, Talon is not here anymore, we should get reinforcements and save the ones we still can…."

"SHUT UP" Winston snapped at her "TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO LENA"

"I don't… know" Scout said quietly.

"BULLSHIT" He forcefully grabbed Scout and shook him in the air. Scout was forced to look into Winston's eyes, and behind all the rage, Scout could see the desperate sadness that Winston tried to hold back.

"S-Sir?" One of the soldiers spoke carefully. "There are more people coming."

Looking back at the burning factory, Scout could see the outlines of two men among the flames. They were walking very slowly and one seemed to support the other with an arm around his back.

The two men approached and through the smoke you could see that it was Soldier and the grey haired man from before. The latter spoke up with a strong voice so everyone could hear him.

"Winston! It's me old friend."

Winston stopped and turned towards the man. Somehow, he recognised his voice. And when he saw his face he recognised the man whom he one time long ago he had called his leader.

"Jack?" Winston asked carefully. Winston halted in his furious rage. Last time he had seen Jack was when he left the Swiss Headquarters in

"...But you died?"

"It would take more than that to kill this old dog, thanks pal" He patted Soldier on the shoulder and Soldier dropped him so he could sit on the ground.

"But more importantly, it seems like both of your sides have suffered heavy casualties." He looked both at the mercenaries and the Overwatch officers and nodded. "I know you both just fought each other, and I can admit that I myself acted on my own selfish goals. But one thing that we can agree on is that we all have a common enemy. Fighting amongst ourselves won't solve anything and Talon will just use it against us. So I propose a truce between you two."

Engineer and Winston exchanged glances and everyone was quiet. After a while Winston spoke up.

"I hate to admit it, but I think we would need your help. And if I'm right, you could also use some assistance. That's the least you're obliged to do since what you did to Tracer." Winston muttered and extended his hand towards Engineer. "Deal?"

The man hesitated. What would Spy had done in this situation? Looking down at Spy's body he realised one thing: They didn't have much of a choice. Engineer nodded and pressed his hand into Winston's palm. "Deal."

* * *

Hello everyone, thank you for being so patient with me. No excuses, the only thing I can say is: Sorry that this takes much longer than it should do!

That aside let's talk about something else.

Long ago when I planned this chapter I made a teaserposter which I forgot to post, but I don't know how to share it since you can't post links in stories.

Another thing that I noticed is that many people think that some of the characters is "Out of character" or doesn't feel canon, and I think I should explain two things.

1\. Many of the choices I make have a reason, and if there is something that feels off, it is probably because I have planned something that would cause it or something similar. One examples is why I portrayed Medic as scarier than the Pyro in chapter 3. The reason for that is because at the time, the story was shown from Winston's perspective. He believes that Pyro is something fascinating that he would want to research, while the Medic is a creepy mad doctor that clearly want's Winston's organs for experimentation. Furthermore, the fact that he resembles his father figure 'Harold Winston' creeps him out.

2\. Both Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch are games that will continuously expand their lore, which makes it hard for me to make everything correct. For instance, the release of the new hero Ana Amari made big changes to the lore. Ana was a character that was considered dead before she was announced as a new hero, and because of that I had to change several plot points in my story to make it work.

I realise now that I've been doing these "post-chapter-talks" and I wonder what you think about them? Should I continue with this little commentating field or should I let the story stand alone? I have been replying to some of the reviews I get, because it's really nice to talk to people who appreciates this story, and I want to connect to my readers!

With all that out of the way, I hope that you all are having a great summer so far, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter "Aftermath"


	6. Aftermath

"Deal." Winston and Engineer's voices echoed in unison as the others watched in silence. Both men did at first not like the situation they found themselves in. Both of the teams had grudges for one another, but that was simply something that they had to overcome, for their own best.

With the help of the Teufort nine, Overwatch saved most of the people trapped inside the burning buildings. Unfortunately not everyone could be saved. Pharah's soldiers were found dead inside, autopsy showing several stab wounds and shots to the head. Medic was a big help since his medigun could save people who were on the brink of death, and Scout could quickly run in and out of the building, helping as much as he could.

The fire brigade showed up as soon as they got permission to enter the area and ambulances arrived to bring the gravely wounded to hospital, among them, the Spy.

After they had done all they could, the teufort nine was brought back to the Overwatch headquarters. Even though they had formed an alliance, the team still noticed that all the Overwatch officers glared at them in suspicion like they would pull a stunt out of nowhere.

During the rest of the night, they got to sleep in a dormitory on the bottom floor of the building. It was nothing to brag about, it was a oblong undecorated dwelling with beige and grey walls. It looked like a room they would use when too many people had to be in their care. A dozen bunk beds was placed along both long sides of the room with grey neutral sheets that matched the bland walls. The only thing that decorated the walls were a single clock.

 **Scout**

The room echoed with the ticking of the clock, the snoring of the mercenaries as well as the occasionally sleep-singing from the russian man going 'da-da-daa~~*SNORE*', and Soldier sleep talking; ('No, you're not awarding me with a medal, I'm awarding it to MYSELF. That is AN ORDER.')

The only ones that could sleep was Heavy, Sniper and Soldier. Medic was alone in the medical ward trying his best to heal Spy.

Scout was laying in his bunk with his eyes wide open, hands behind his head. There was no way he could sleep after what had happened.

"It was so surreal, like, she was right in front of me. And then suddenly, she was gone." Scout said out loud.

On the bed on his right side, Engineer, Demoman and Pyro was sitting in the bottom bunk, listening to the loud thoughts of the boy.

"Like we kill people all the time, right? Why would this be any different?" He continued.

"Was it because it was a woman?" Engineer raised an eyebrow. While he was listening he was trying to repair an old coffee machine that he had found. Tinkering with something always helped him calm down and reduce stress. The men had all stripped of their gear and was wearing the casual clothes that they had stolen before, except for Pyro that still had their mask and suit hiding their identity. While Engineer dismantled the coffee machine, Pyro had started a small fire which they placed the coffee pot on to make coffee. If they weren't going to sleep, they could at least drink some caffeine to stay alert.

"No, that's not it," Scout was quick to answer. "It's more like she was... Special somehow..." When he saw that the others stared at him with big eyes he blushed and started stuttering. "N- No, No-not like th-that! I mean, more like, she didn't deserve to be shot down like that." He stared into the metal bars of the top bunk over him. He never had any problem with killing, and this sudden change of emotion scared him.

"I know how ye feel." Demoman reassured him. "It's like that feisty rocket woman, she seemed like a nice gal, but I dunno if I can look her in the eyes after what Spy did to her men. She probably will not want to talk to me ever again."

"That's right, about that," Engineer halted in his construction. "Don't ever mention what happened to her friend. Or else we're screwed for real." pointing his screwdriver at Demoman's healthy eye. "No pun intended."

"Aight aight, fine, but aye dunno why we would make this deal anyways. What do we have to gain from this?" he paused when he saw that Pyro handed him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. He took a sip of it and immediately spit it out on the ground, which upset the Pyro.

"Christ, even their coffee tastes awful. How am I going to survive in a sober working environment, let alone SLEEP FOR ONE NIGHT." Demoman complained.

Engineer took a sip of the coffee and continued to assemble the coffee machine, the fact that at least one of them enjoyed the coffee pleased Pyro.

"Well, try to get some sleep. Tomorrow they might drag you out of bed early to do some community work or something."

 **Engineer**

The next day, Engineer was called to a meeting, representing himself and his eight companions. He rode the elevator up all the way to the 30th floor to meet with the others.

Winston, Engineer, Pharah and Jack stood in Madalitso's grand office on the top floor of Overwatch's headquarters. It was a large room with glass ceiling and a window covering the whole wall with a grand view over the metropolis. Compared to the grey garrisons Engineer came from, this was like stepping into another dimension.

A large desk carved in the finest mahogany stood in the center of the room, a detail that felt very old school when compared to the rest of the rooms interior, and behind it sat the CEO of Numbani defense corps, and the man behind the rebirth of Overwatch. He was sitting in his wheelchair and looking out over the city when they entered. In a way, he was the city's real protector, even if he wasn't able to do much with his own two hands, he had gone a long way to make his dream a reality, to make an safe utopia for everyone, no matter what background they had.

When the four entered he turned his wheelchair around and welcomed them with a warm smile.

"Harold, Fareeha, good to see that you both are relatively unharmed." He rolled past the desk and up to the four. Engineer thought it was weird how casual his greeting was. He was used to corporate bosses being all narcissistic and full of themselves. This man was even on first name basis with Winston and Pharah. Engineer thought back to when he had met their boss, the Administrator for the first time. She was the straight opposite of this man. She was intimidating, forceful and would kill anyone who stood in her way to get what she wanted. This man felt like the nice old relative that was glad to see his grandchildren. But somehow, Engineer could feel that Madalitso was a highly respected and decisive man. It was important to be careful around a man that had this much power.

"I'm so sorry about Lena," Madalitso looked up at Winston. "Will she be able to return to us soon?"

This confused Engineer. Didn't the girl die? Or was that just a misconception on his part?

Winston sighed "Without the original blueprints of the chronal accelerator, it would take months, maybe years to rebuild it. And my research got destroyed in the explosion at our last HQ, and the only copies of the original blueprints are located at the Lunar moon base."

"There might be something I can do about that, but I'll return to that later."

Winston's face shone up at this remark, but he didn't know if he wanted to hope too much.

"First we have some new faces here, care to introduce yourself?" Madalitso looked straight at Engineer. "I've heard many stories and speculations about you and your group, but I feel like I want to hear the truth from the source itself."

Engineer sighed and started talking. Without getting interrupted, Engineer told Madalitso the entire story from start to end. From when Miss Pauling had brought up the idea of time traveling to when they broke out of the Overwatch headquarters and arrived at the facility. He was careful to exclude details like when Spy had killed Saleh. Doing that would cause Spy to be more of a dead man than he already was.

During the time Engineer was telling his story, Madalitso was dead silent, listening carefully to every detail. When he was done, there was a moment of silence where the CEO seemed to be deep in his thoughts. Then he cleared his throat and spoke.

"So what you are saying is that you lot are mercenaries? Then consider yourselves rehired by me. You're now all working for Numbani defense corps, Overwatch division. That is the least you can do for the damages you have caused us so far." He rolled away from Engineer towards his desk.

"I will try to cover up the public incident so that people won't recognize you."

"I have to say that I'm actually really impressed with one of your men, he was a big help to save the last men from the fire. Even though it was a fire that you had created, I am able to see past that. He's currently working in the medical wards and helping us with our injured soldiers. I believe your friends are resting there at the moment as well." Madalitso's look turned serious when he continued, almost giving a worried look. "As for the one you call 'the Pyro'... I am uncertain if such a unstable being is suited for this sort of work. If there is more outbreaks like this one, I'll have to take things in my own hands."

"Let me worry about Pyro, I know he can come out as intimidating and fearsome, but he is actually not that dangerous." Engineer said. It was the truth. When facing enemies, true enough, Pyro was a reckless force to be reckoned with, but as a friend on your team, Pyro was one of the most heartwarming persons that Engineer had met. To be honest, their team was full of people that had their own personal goals and wouldn't hesitate a second to sacrifice their own friends for them, but Pyro were the one with no selfish desires, he simply wanted to defend his team.

"As long as you have control over him, I'm not going to intercept, but remember, the blame lies on you if something happens." Madalitso said coldly and for the first time, Engineer felt that the man could be decisive.

"And what a happy surprise to see you here." The CEO finally turned to 76. "Jack Morrison. The man who returned from the dead. The hero, the legend. I can't wait to see how the word spreads. I have to tell you that it was your ideals that got me to the place where I am today. Your sacrifice in the Swiss incident was what defines the term 'heroic'." He leaned forwards and clenched his fist. "Finally. The symbol of peace is back. The world will cherish and when Talon hears of this, they'll crawl back to the cave of where they came from."

"I'm not so sure of that." Jack Morrison spoke with a deep rusty voice. Engineer recognised the man from the pictures in the book he read about the Omnic wars. He looked very different from the man in the picture, but he had kept many strong features that defined the long lost hero. Jack had removed his visor so everyone could see his bare face. The large scar that stretched across his face was intimidating, but his wrinkles and greying hair showed that years had taken their toll on the old man. His expression however displayed great proudness and resolution. This man had been through many wars, both on the frontline and behind it.

"Being a ghost had it's benefits. I was able to move around freely without being traced. No one will fear a retired old man." Jack argued.

"I'm sorry Jack, but I don't have control over the press/media. Among our soldiers, doctors and the firemen, there were people who recognised you and I can't stop the words from spreading. This is a story that will blow up and go viral across the world. On the good side it will also help to cover the actions of these newcomers" Madalitso explained, but Engineer could see that Jack Morrison strongly disagreed with the man. Years ago, he was the leader of Overwatch, but now he had to work under someone else, and Engineer suspected that Jack didn't like that idea.

"See, I don't know how long you have been working undercover but I hope you plan to stay with us. You would be a great asset, not only physically, but also as a pillar of justice that inspire and encourage everyone that works toward a peaceful planet."

"There was many who despised Overwatch. The sole reason it got disbanded was because of the voice of the people. They clearly thought they were better off without us." Jack argued.

"But that was a long time ago. Now when no one were there to protect the world, everyone realised how hopeless a world without you would be."

The room fell silent so Madalitso wasted no time and continued to the next topic.

"Now then, as you all know I have been traveling to the UN as Nigeria's representative. There were several incidents that were discussed, and there were some where I was requested to assist." Madalitso turned to Winston.

"I'll start with you Harold. NASA is going to retake the Horizon Lunar base, and since you know about that place better than anyone else, they request that you accompany them. Assemble a small team that will accompany you." Winston stood with his back straight and saluted.

"Yes sir, you can count on me."

"Don't get me wrong, I know how dangerous this mission might be, so don't let your emotions get to you. But I also think that it's a good opportunity to get those blueprints back."

Saying that the mission 'might be dangerous' was an understatement. The relatively small moon base was filled up to the width with murderous genetically enhanced gorillas. It would be extremely dangerous, but Winston decided that it was worth taking the risk. He needed Tracer back.

"As for Fareeha, we have received a distress call from the border of Nigeria. Talon terrorists and other anti omnic forces has begun moving west and are destroying several villages in their way. If we don't act now, they will be in Numbani sooner rather than later. I got the reports regarding what happened to your old Squadron, may they all rest in peace, but you need to assemble a new team."

Pharah bit her lip. This was the second time that she had let her own squad die. The first time, she succeeded in saving Saleh, but now even he were gone. It was true that in this line of work, people was going to die, but you never really got used to that. Pharah had tried to not get too close to her team before, but after a while, when you had gone through so much, ups and downs, getting friendly with each other was unavoidable. Life really was unfair.

"I believe that Jack will be a great asset to you. And judging their combat abilities, I think that Tavish Degroot and Jane Doe also would be perfect for the positions."

"Tavish?" Pharah snapped back to reality "No, I refuse!" He was the last one she wanted on the team.

"I'm sorry, but they have both already signed up."

 **Later in ward c - medical ward**

Spy laid still on a hospital bed in a private operation room. He was in a coma like state, with an IV machine and several other medical instruments connected to his body. The remains of his suit hung neatly on a coat hanger beside the bed. Medic was inside the room alone, using a scalpel to poke around Spy's open chest.

The rest of the team, excluding Pyro and Engineer, was resting in the lounge outside the room. Heavy was reading a newspaper, Soldier and Demoman was playing battleships and Scout and Sniper was just hanging out while watching inside the operation room. The room had large windows to the inside, but they were covered with white curtains that Medic had pulled over from the inside, but you could still see the blurry silhouettes of Medic and the bed.

"He's french toast, eh? Eh? Get it?" Scout tried to lighten the mood, even though he had used the joke several times before.

"Are you sure you're ok? I know he was a fatherly figure to ya, I mean when I found out that my parents had passed away, It took a long time for it to sink in." Sniper said to Scout. While they were working for the Administrator, Sniper didn't talk to his parents much, they called him maybe once each two months. But one day, they simply stopped calling, and when Sniper finally arrived home, he'd found out that his parents had died 6 months before.

"Yo shut up ok? He's not my dad, it's not like that, you don't know anything!"

"You don't need to get so mad son" Soldier chipped in with a confused look. "This is war, people get killed, raped and their heads will be put on spikes for their families to see.

"I'm not anyone's son, ok? My real dad died long ago and left my ma alone to take care of me and my brothers, it was a hard time alright?"

"Don't lose hope, I think there's still a chance for Spy's survival." Sniper insisted.

"Yes son, I'm pretty sure he is hiding here somewhere." Soldier said and looked under the table, then he quickly stood up and screamed at Demoman; "All ships target the coordinates D4. FIRE!"

"Miss." Demoman smirked, followed with a curse from Soldier.

"We didn't build atomic bombs for naught, pearl harbor will not fall to your suicide bombing tactics. Where have you hidden Hiroshima!"

"Hiroshima and Pearl harbor wasn't even ships! And why would you even say that I'm japanese?" the Scot exclaimed.

"We have seen your weapons demo, convince us all you want but the ullapool caber looks a bit kamikaze inspired" Sniper commented. "Not to mention the big sword collection…"

Surprised by their sudden change of conversation topic, Scout became dumbfounded. "A...anyway I, I have somewhere else to go." Scout turned around awkwardly and ran away through the door, bumping into Engineer who just had entered the room. Engineer turned around and looked confused after Scout, but he was already running down the corridor.

"Lemme guess, daddy issues?" Engineer chuckled. "Jokes aside, how is the fella doing?" He walked to Sniper as to peek inside the operation room, but before he could see anything, Medic walked out of the room.

He was rubbing his gloves on his suit and then removing them one by one so he wouldn't get blood on his hands.

"He's beyond my healing capabilities, the flames have disrupted the way my medigun works." Medic said with a sigh.

"But hey, you resurrected me, didn't ya?" Sniper asked and traced the Y-formed stitches across his chest. "What makes this any different?"

"You were killed with a clean shot, Spy's case is different." Medic explained. "He had his whole ribcage crushed and the bonshards punctured several organs, including the heart and the lungs. Thanks to the fire, the wounds burned and were closed, but the fire caused even more injury. Because of the burnt flesh, my medigun won't work properly. I won't bore you with the technicalities, but basically, my medigun helps the body regenerate the cellular tissue, but if the victim has been exposed to a fourth degree burn or worse, it means that the damage on the tissue is so serious that the regeneration boost that the medigun supplies won't be enough. At least not until we create a more effective way to heal people." Medic rabbled without stopping.

Soldier, Sniper and Demoman looked like three question marks, but Engineer simply nodded and seemed to ponder about what Medic explained.

"The other doctors have recommended that we should cryogenically freeze him for now. It is a method where you freeze all the cells in the body instantly without killing them, thus preserving the body in its current form. To be honest with you, I'm kind of excited." Medic smiled "I've never seen anything like this before. It's like back in the ancient time of the egyptians who preserved their kings and prevented their bodies from decaying by wrapping them in silks and chemicals!" Medic held up his hands to the sky as to receive a blessing from the heavens. "We humans have certainly surpassed our creator. What if God doesn't want to interfere because he fears the humans he have created. That is why he is hiding in heaven. The sky is eternal, our possibilities limitless… This… is the future."

The room fell awkwardly silent and it took a while before anyone decided to speak again. The one who opened their mouth first was Soldier.

"If he does wake up like a mummy, I'll use his bandages as toilet paper and flush him down together with it!" Soldier exclaimed, as it was the only conclusion that he had come to.

"Speaking of crazy, where's pyro?" Demoman asked trying to change to subject from the two lunatics agenda.

"Pyro seems to want to be alone for a while." Engineer scratched the back of his head. "I think he knows he's responsible for Spy's dea- I mean, what happened to Spy." Just because Pyro's intentions always were good, Pyro was always sad when he accidentally did something bad, and carrying the burden of killing a teammate was something that would completely break him. In order for Pyro to be his usual self again, they should- no, they MUST heal Spy first.

"Furthermore, they don't seem to trust him very much, which just adds fuel to the fire, no pun intended. But I have other news. We are now employed by Overwatch, and unfortunately, we can't do much about it."

Soldier and Demoman hi-fived in the background.

"Guess you guys already knew that this would happen somehow, our boss told me you already signed up for a frontline mission." Engineer raised an eyebrow at his comrades. "There is also a mission which goal is to retake a moonbase full of bloodthirsty gorillas if anyones interested."

"Gorillas? The same species as Winston?" Medic's eyes lighted up. To think that there was a whole base full of the species he wanted to analyze. "Sounds interesting, where should I sign…? " His grin began to widen. "Heavy and Sniper, you are participating in this mission as well."

Heavy had no complaints, he had already proven how effective he could be against the beasts, but Sniper didn't understand how his own presence would help in the situation.

"Why would I accompany you? I have no interest in raiding an extraterrestrial zoo."

"Trust me" Medic smiled. "I have a plan, let's go and sign up right now, I'll tell you later."

On the way out, Medic walked up to Engineer and whispered to him. "Should we stick to the plan? Even if Spy's..."

"Of course we will! Him being gone doesn't change much, we two can still be able to…"

Before Engineer could continue, Jack Morrison and Pharah entered the lounge, interrupting their private conversation.

"I'll talk more to you later." Medic said abruptly and turned to follow Heavy and Sniper.

When he saw Jack enter the room, Soldier stood up and walked up to him.

"You think you're some big shot old man?" He stood with a straight back and looked down at the old hero. "I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and-"

"Take it easy Soldier," Engineer tried to calm him down. "Remember we're all allies now, so treat him with some respect."

"Respect?!" Soldier's face was red out of furiousness. "I'll give you some respect alright, look out there!" Soldier pointed out the window toward the front entrance of the building. There stood a giant golden statue of Jack Morrison in his younger days, holding hands with a small child with his hand, and a gun resting on his shoulder in his other hand, symbolizing the rightfulness of Overwatch who ended the omnic crisis. "Having a giant statue of yourself, you got balls old man." Soldier began circling Jack, inspecting every little detail of him.

Jack looked over at Engineer with raised eyebrows. Engineer just shrugged as to say 'This is how he is, just roll with it'

"Judging by your uniform, you seem to be in the 76th squadron, but I'll have you know that if our team would have had squadrons, I would have been the general of the primary one! Now that's not the case, since we don't need any squadrons, BECAUSE I AM A ONE MAN ARMY." Soldier breathed heavy, but after a while he calmed down and lowered his voice

"Besides... You son, has something to answer for."

Soldier reached inside his pockets and picked out a small healing machine, similar to the one Engineer, Heavy and Medic found.

"Why'd you save Demo?" This time some concern mixed with suspicion was in Soldier's tone.

Jack hesitated a while before answering. "He looked like someone I once knew, an old friend, which whom I hold a grudge against. So i first thought I finally had found my old rival, but when I realised he was the wrong guy, I guess you could say that I felt guilty." Jack looked out of the window, out over the horizon wondering where his old friend actually were. He was there at the factory, Jack _felt_ his presence. The old hero shook his head and came back to reality. "But the same question right back at you Soldier, why did you save me out of that fire?"

"After I saw you fight with miss eagle-pants over there, I knew that you weren't a bad guy." Soldier pointed towards Pharah who were currently shaking Demoman against a wall. "Besides, a true Soldier never leaves a fellow American on the battlefield"

Even though his reasons were illogical, Engineer realised that Soldier's instinct to save Jack was the reason that their alliance were formed, maybe the reason that they all were still alive. Engineer laughed while watching Soldier proudly showing Jack all his badges that he made himself during his time in the war. Jack didn't seem that impressed, but he certainly seemed to be interested in how Soldier participated in the second world war. Engineer just knew that those two would be good friends. He wasn't certain if the same could be said about the two others in the room however. He glanced over at Demoman and Pharah who seemed to be in an all out quarrel.

Not wasting any time by greeting her new teammates, Pharah had walked straight up to Demoman.

"Nice to see ya without a rocket launcher pointed at m-"

Demoman was cut off when she punched the wall he was leaning against. Even though she didn't have her suit on, cracks in the wall formed from the impact. Demoman shut his mouth and realised she wasn't messing around.

"Where is Saleh? What did you do to him?" Pharah asked him furiously. She pinned him against the wall and squeezed his sore arms hard. "And what is this shit with you signing up for the mission at the border?"

Demoman didn't know what to say, he knew that telling the truth about Spy killing Saleh would not be good for him, and he also remembered the promise he made to Engineer.

"Aye…. Aye actually dunno where he is..." Demoman answered, and that was actually the truth. He didn't actually know _where_ he was, even if he had a clue about his condition. "Last time I saw him, he was outside that tavern. As for the mission, I felt that it was something that suited me, so what?"

"We don't need soldiers with a broken nose." Pharah said decisively.

"I dun't got a-" Demoman started to say, but he was interrupted once again, this time by a headbutt from the woman who held him against the wall. Demoman sank down to the floor, holding his bleeding nose with both hands. Pharah simply brushed her hair back into place, turned and walked out of the room.

"Christ, are all your captains as bossy as her?" Demoman asked trying his best to ignore the pain.

"Unfortunately no." Jack laughed. "How is your friend doing by the way?" Jack asked Engineer and nodded towards the operation room.

"Not very good I am afraid. Medic couldn't fully restore him, so there is nothing we can do now but to wait."

"Nono, don't worry about me, I just need to…. Rest a little bit." Demoman complained. "Oi, ye don't have any alcohol to... ya know, clean my…. Wound?"

Ignoring demoman, Jack continued. "There is actually something I could do. My old colleague is a doctor, a fantastic one at that, some people even calls her a miracle worker since she supposedly has revived people from the dead."

"Sounds like someone we could use some help from then, but why are you giving us this information?" Engineer asked him. This sounded too good to be true, and things never worked in their favor like this.

"Because we need her back in Overwatch, and there's one more person that is in Germany right now, someone that you will want to speak to. His name is Torbjörn Lindholm, and he has information about the Australium and the Omnic crisis which no one else on this planet has."

Engineer thought about his options. Staying here in Numbani and research was his original plan, but both meeting the scientist and the doctor was too tempting. Going to Europe would also mean that he would have to leave Pyro behind with a unconscious Spy, if he didn't take him with him. In the end he decided that going to Europe was the best choice.

"Alright, I'll go to Europe and meet up with your contacts, but I'll bring Pyro with me. It feels like he could use some fresh air and time away from this place." Engineer stood up and walked toward the door. "I'm gonna go have a talk with our Gorilla friend."

"Winston won't let you leave, so I suggest that you sneak away alone."

"Don't worry, I have a plan! I'll talk to you later."

 **Winston**

Being inside his office again felt like a big relief. He knew that he was wishing for some fieldwork just the day before, but this wasn't what he wanted.

He sighed and looked down. A broken machine and a pair of orange tinted glasses was on the desk before him. He couldn't believe that Lena was here just a few hours ago, and now she was gone.

But Winston was convinced. He was going to bring her back no matter what.

Interrupting his thought process, Engineer stamped into his office and walked up to his desk.

"I need permission from you to travel to Germany." Engineer slammed his hands down on Winston's desk.

"And why would I do that? Do you really think I'll let you all run free, yesterday you were labeled as terrorists, and you still are in my book."

"I think you misunderstand somethin'." The texan said with a cold tone in his voice. He squinted and stared at Winston. "It wasn't a question."

This was probably an attempt to provoke Winston, but he wouldn't fall for a trap like that.

"Maybe you need to be reminded about who your boss is." Winston snapped back. "You're not going anywhere."

Without listening to what Winston said, Engineer continued. "That's not all. I'm going to reactivate the Bastion unit that I found in the factory."

"If you do that you will recreate the fear that everyone has for the robotic civilization. Hate for the Omnic kind will sprout anew as a result of this."

"I need to understand this times tech, and what better way to do that is to research a robots action in real time."

"It's unethical! They're murder machines!"

"What am I gonna do? Am I going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs?"

Engineer and Winston's discussion went nowhere, they were both stubborn and wouldn't see it from the others perspective. Engineers plan had been to make Winston angry but since he seemed to be able to control his feelings the plan didn't work. Eventually, Engineer decided that he wouldn't be able to convince Winston, so he just had to sneak out, just as Jack had proposed.

"I'm sorry Winston, I have to go now, but it was fun to hear your moral and ethical opinions and so on." Engineer turned around and walked out of the door.

"Wait, I'm not finished with you! Conagher!"

Before the door could close, Scout slipped inside Winston's office, and before Winston could stop him, he was already talking.

"Ugh, I know you kinda blame me for this incident, and that you don't really like me at all."

Winston grunted at this remark and looked Scout coldly in his eyes.

"And y-yeah, I can say that I feel the same for you, I have a history with not being cooperative with large men."

"Is this story going anywhere, or are you just here to insult my size?."

Scout hesitated and then fell to his knees, which shocked Winston

"I want you to know that I'll take full responsibility for my actions! I'm so sorry that she died, I'll do anything to make up for it!"

Seeing the cocky and arrogant Scout on his knees was a weird sight to behold. Scout was a person who were always bragging and putting himself over everyone, seeing him actually show some other feelings than selfishness impressed Winston.

"She's actually not dead, her physical body is just out of the time loop and not anchored to this world." Winston sighed.

"Wai, wha?" Now it was Scouts turn to look shocked. "Is she a ghost or somethin'?"

"I guess you could say that… A time jumping ghost who can't control its own powers." Winston looked down at Scout. "To be honest, I don't see you as the most technical person, so I'll spare you the details. But, thinking of it, there is actually... One thing you can do." Winston said.

"Really?" Scout looked up from the ground. " I volunteer, I'll do it!"

"Wait until you hear what I have to say. The only way for me to repair the chronal accelerator is to have access to the original schematics. I had a copy, but it got destroyed in an explosion many years ago. The only one left in existence is the original blueprint which could be found in the abandoned moonbase in which I was born. Fortunately we have gotten a request from NASA to retake that moonbase and drive out it's residents."

"Residents?" Scout asked. "No worries, I'll take them all on with my bat!"

"Its residents are my brothers and sisters, hundreds of genetically enforced gorillas that led an uprising against their creators and killed all the scientists, including my foster father. The task is literally a suicide mission, so what is a small frail boy like you going to do? Can you really help?"

Scout was struck with a waterfall of feelings. He felt hope, he was able to bring her back. But he felt despair, he could die in the progress and thus failing not only his teammates, but also Miss Pauling who were counting for him. He felt happy because he was actually able to do something! But the thought of a monster filled moonbase brought him nothing but fear and horror. The thought of being left alone in the cold void that was space gave him chills up his spine.

Hope and despair. Joy and fear. Happiness and sadness. Determination and cowardice. They were all different sides of the same coin, but right now, Scout's feelings was representing the whole coin.

"I… I don't..."

"He won't be able to do much." Scout suddenly heard a voice behind him. It was the Australian accent of the bushman which he recognised so well.

"Not without a little help from his friends at least" He felt a large hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he saw the determined face of his russian co-worker. He glanced back and saw Medic and Sniper stand right behind him as well.

"To be honest, the Scout is helpless without his teammates." Medic smiled. "We're also in."

Winston sighed deeply. A sigh that turned into a laugh of relief.

"You got good friends Scout. Alright, I guess I have no choice but to sign you up. Welcome to the team."

 **Engineer**

Later that evening when the sun was starting to set, the giant glowing orange orb descended beyond the horizon, and its light spread across the large sea.

"Aaaaand, there we go!" Engineer exclaimed and took a step back to examine the robot which he just repaired.

With a large beep, the robot came to life. As it rose up to stand on its own two legs, everyone noticed how tall the thing really was, Engineer reached up as far as to its chest. When it was packed in the crate it was compactly packed like a cube so you didn't notice how big it was. A blue screen lighted up on it's face, if that was what it was supposed to be. Engineer knew that the blue screen worked both as eyesight and lightsource for the robot.

It looked around curious about the world and all the people that stood around it, beeping with fascination.

"It's name is SST Laboratories Siege Automaton E54 Bastion." But I think we just should call it 'Bastion'."

Engineer noticed that Bastion had several scratches on its metal and bullet holes over its structure. He traced the scratches with his fingers.

"My my, what have they done to you... Don't worry. I'll get you fixed up as soon as possible."

He smiled and looked up at the robot. Bastion beeped in approval and seemed satisfied with that promise.

Engineer thought the this was weird at first. If it was packed in a crate he would expect it to be brand new, but that however didn't seem to be the case. If this robot actually had been fighting humans like Winston told him, it may become dangerous later, but that was all part of the experiment. Engineer needed to study how it acted in the real world for his own studies. However the case might be, Engineer had also made a memory wipe on the robots databank to remove any potential murder tendencies.

All the mercenaries had gathered down at the harbor together with Soldier:76 to say goodbye to Engineer and Pyro. Jack had helped them sneak out of the building to get away from Winston sights.

Pyro was hugging everyone goodbye and then walked over to greet his new robot friend.

"Are you guys going to be ok?" Medic asked. "This somewhat strays from the path of our original mission."

"Don't worry, just stick to the plan and it'll all work out." Engineer leaned closer and whispered so only Medic could hear. "But hold a close eye on Scout, he seems to be a little bit too caring about our new 'allies', they could still be our enemies."

"Ja, understood" Medic nodded.

After saying his goodbyes to Medic, Heavy, Sniper and Scout, Engineer walked over to Soldier and Demoman who stood with Soldier:76.

"Soldier I better see at least five more medals on that uniform when I get back." He pointed at Soldiers chest.

"Yes sir!" Soldier saluted him.

"And Demo, don't blow yourself up man."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean." Demoman sounded offended.

"What I mean is; Get smashed, not mashed"

"That's more like it!" Demo high fived Engineer and laughed.

"I think Jack will take good care of you two. Let's meet up when all our missions are finished."

The large cargo ship that was docked behind them honked as a sign that it was time to leave the city.

"That's our call. I guess we'll be going now." Engineer spoke calmly. "Thanks for all the help and good luck on the frontlines." He spoke to Jack.

"You should travel carefully as well. The world is a crazy and dangerous place. Fortunately, you don't need luck with a good aim." Jack responded confidently. Sniper heard this and squinted at the man who just stole his motto.

"Me neither since I have two murder machines by my side." Engineer laughed, low enough so Pyro wouldn't hear him.

"True, but you should be wary of that Bastion unit, it was because of those things that the omnic crisis escalated as much as it did." Jack warned him.

Engineer looked back at Bastion and saw it playing catch with Pyro. "I think I can handle it."

Jack seemed content, and turned his back to walk into the city again, the red numbers '76' glowing on his back.

"Farewell Dell Conagher, may the our paths meet again some bright day."

Engineer, Pyro and Bastion got lifted onto the large ship by a crane, and they decided to stand outside for a little while, feeling the warm breeze from the ocean.

Seeing the waving people getting smaller and smaller as the ship began its voyage, Engineer's thoughts drifted of. Everyone was starting to split up now, going their own way on their own missions, but he was sure that they all were going to meet up again.

That, however, was only wishful thinking.

Engineer would never expect that out of the people standing in the port, there were some of them that he never would get to meet again.

* * *

At the same time, Reaper and Widowmaker was sitting in a dropship flying towards an unknown location. The night was falling around them, the only things you could see was the mountaintops that was illuminated from the light of the flying vehicle.

Reaper was holding a holographic tablet, reading the recent news that had spread across the globe. The headline 'Legendary hero returns from the dead' covered the tablet and the words stung Reaper in his eyes.

"He was there…" Reaper's hands was trembling and he had such a hard grip of the tablet that Widowmaker was afraid that it would break. "The man who took everything from me, he was within arms reach, and I missed him…"

Widowmaker looked over at the man with disgust. She understood if he had a grudge against the man, but this behaviour was animalistic. "Isn't that the man who were in Schweiz when that incident occurred? Then… that means he also survived?" This disturbed her however. She had reported Jack Morrison dead to the higher ups, and falsely reporting was a punishable act. Who knew how many of their troops he had been taking out, who knew how much information he had gathered about them, who knew how much he knew.

Reaper threw the tablet to the ground, breaking the thin monitor. He looked over at Widowmaker and spoke with his rusty voice.

"I'm ready to meet the leader of Talon."

Widowmaker snorted. "Everything takes it own time _petit garçon"_ She smirked at the masked man and took a drink of her wine. "Not even I, their own merciless killing machine, have met with this 'Leader'. as far as I know, Talon is a leaderless organization. But however I'm glad

that you finally decided to officially join us."

"Yes." Reaper said and remembered the picture of the man that covered the news report. His blue eyes staring back at him, mocking him. "I think it is going to prove a necessary measure."

Widowmaker smiled. She and Reaper had teamed up several times, but having him working directly for Talon would be a great asset. She took another sip and watched outside the window at the dark clouds beneath them.

"Our plans are going smoothly. Let's just hope that the Shimada clan lives up to their reputation."

 **END OF FIRST ARC**

* * *

 **Woop woop, now we are finally done with the "Arrival arc". Following this, we will continue into three storylines;**

 **1\. Scout, Sniper, Medic, Heavy and Winston going to the moon to retake the Lunar moon base.**

 **2\. Demoman, Soldier, Pharah and Soldier:76 going to the Nigerian border to fight of the Talon forces that have been terrorizing the area.**

 **3\. Engineer, Pyro and Bastion going to Europe to recruit Torbjörn and Mercy.**

 **Tell me in the reviews what storyline you are most interested in, I would like to know!**

 **I think those chapters will be a little shorter since I won't have to cover ALL the characters in one chapter, so hopefully, they will be faster to write as well.**

 **Other news than that, a new Overwatch map "Eichenwalde" was announced, and I will say that that location will make an appearance soon!**

 **Another thing that happened is that the new short "The last Bastion" came out, and before anyone jumps on me saying that my story doesn't follow the canon story, I'll say once again: I have planned out most of the story already, so since Overwatch and TF2 update their lore, I won't always be able to change my story according to the canon one. I may do some changes, but I won't change any big things. (Btw, I'm really nervous about Blizzard announcing Sombra as I have to fit that character into the story somehow.)**

 **Also, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Frontline community update on tfmaps DOT com (I'm writing it like this since fanfiction DOT net doesn't support links lol) It is made by a group of really talented people, so I suggest you check it out, and maybe even make something for the update yourself! They have a 7,2 hour contest coming up and I might try to make a map since I have some really good ideas for a frontline themed map(Even though I'll never be able to make a map in 7,2 hours rip).**

 **Alright, enough of my ramblings (hope I don't tire you out) And I'll see you guys in the next chapter: "Monsters of society"**

 **EDIT: I almost forgot! This story now has over 200 followers! I don't know how many follows are considered "many" on fanfiction DOT net, but this is HUGE for me! Thank you everyone for reading my story, I think I never can thank you guys enough. Be sure to share this story with your family and friends, and as always, feedback and other comments are really appreciated! See ya guys! 3**


	7. Monsters of society

**Somewhere in Germany.**

A chrome snake flew past the forest, hovering slightly over the rails it was connected to. The nature however, seemed to not care about the metallic vehicle that zipped past. Some deer lifted their heads when it flew past but they went back to eating berries of the bushes as soon as it was gone. It had been a long time since the large and loud locomotives of the german industries were replaced by these energy efficient levitating trains. Just like the omnics, the train was built with nature in mind, so that synthetics and organics could coexist in peace.

In the first car of the train the passengers consisted of businessmen, politicians and other important people who were rich enough to spend an average person's wage on a single trip. The men, women and even the few omnics were all wearing their sharpest suits and dresses. They had enough class to get Spy's approval.

The second car was restricted to omnics only, as there were many people who still despised and condemned the omnics, an omnic only car was made to keep the robotics safe from harm.

After that came the dining car which served all kind of cuisine you could think of, followed by 5 cars for regular paying passengers. Lastly there was two freight cars filled with cargo. Crates and packages filled the cars from the floor to the ceiling, but there were nothing dangerous stored inside. Except for something no one on the train could expect. Three illegal passengers that snuck onboard the train when it stopped in Nice. The three individuals that hitchhiked on the train was one engineer and mercenary who originally was from the year 1973 called Dell Conagher, one unidentified creature with an obsession with fire, and a killing machine who were recently named Bastion.

 **Engineer**

Since their departure from Numbani, the party had travelled aboard a cargo ship. During their time there, they stayed hidden inside a container, but from time to time Pyro and Engineer had snuck out to steal food from the sailors cabin. Bastions functions was purely electrical so, Engineer could easily tend to the robots needs.

After they landed in Nice, they stealthily crossed the city, to finally sneak aboard a cargo train that was going on a non stop journey straight to Berlin. They were now sitting on that very train, among crates of unknown contents.

The journey hadn't been easy. Engineer swore that getting allowance and transportation services from Winston would have been a more flexible solution. But if that was the case, he wouldn't been able to bring Bastion with him, and the choice to bring it along wasn't a bad one. Engineer had enjoyed studying the intelligence of the robot as it communicated with Pyro through noises generated by its sound chip. Engineer couldn't really transcribe anything that Bastion said, but it didn't to matter as Pyro's mumblings were just as incomprehensible, but they seemed to get along well.

The german landscape was flying by as the train speeded on its tracks. The three hitchhikers enjoyed the beautiful view of the untouched summer forest thanks to the open shutter doors. It was early summer and all the trees crowns and the orange sun shined with colour that made them all warm on the inside, well, at least for Pyro and Engineer. Engineer didn't know if the newly activated robot could feel warmth, but it still looked out with wonder, curious about the wide beautiful world outside. Studying the machine was really fascinating. It reacted and responded to its surrounding like a living creature would.

Engineer was playing his acoustic guitar while they enjoyed their surroundings. Watching the eventful nature with singing birds, hopping rivers and whistling trees was like watching a feel-good-movie. It was very peaceful, and Engineer's melodic tunes helped setting the mood.

Engineer breathed in as he strummed his guitar. He hoped that things would stay peaceful for a while. Surely, testing his turrets against some meat bags wasn't an unpleasant experience, but Engineer needed some time to reload his batteries between all the action. Falling into the balmy harmony, Dell was reminded of the start of his career as an 'Engineer'. The business had been kept in the family, unlike the other mercs, but Engineer never knew what his father worked with when he was younger. It was understandable, it was a work roll that included turf wars, local terrorism, assassination and backstabbing espionage. The secret of his father's occupation was kept from young Dell like santa's real identity. Life was peaceful in small Bee cave, Texas, except from when burglars tried to rob the Conagher family of their collected wealth, another thing that completely went under Engineer's nose.

Engineer quickly got to learn about life the hard way when his father one day suddenly went up in smoke, certainly because of one of his mercenary missions. But Dell didn't waste any tears crying, but instead put them into work with his sweat and blood into fulfilling his legacy. He worked hard and succeeded into collecting 11 well deserved Phds in science, and together with his natural curiosity and his father's blueprints he started a small business selling home defense mechanisms.

The equipment was effective, just according to the local customers taste. But when several of them complained about dead muggers tainting their porch and one or more dead dog, Engineer was forced into a lawsuit by some higher class snob who never had seen blood in his entire life.

Without a proper lawyer by his side, Engineer felt his back against the wall, but surprisingly, he found himself cleared of all accusations. His savior was a mystery guest who suddenly appeared to act as his defendant.

It was only later when a letter from Blutarch Mann arrived at his doorstep that Engineer understood that the lawyer's appearance wasn't just an act of kindness, but an action that had to be repaid. This was when Engineer got hired to repair the life preserving machine his grandfather, Radigan Conagher, had built, and in that way found out that both his father and grandfather had previously worked for Blutarch. After improving the life extending machine, Engineer started working for Blutarch full time because of how well paid the job was.

But it was when he got in contact with the Administrator that everything once again changed. The payment that she offered was more than double the amount Blutarch was willing to pay him. She offered Engineer to leave Blutarch and start working for her instead.

The money intrigued him into taking the offer, and after a series of private jobs, he found himself as a part of the Teufort nine, the mercenary group working for Redmond Mann, Blutarch's brother and sworn enemy. Even though most of Engineer's new colleagues were nutbrains, the team were tight and he got along well with everyone. To this day, he considers the team as his real family.

Suddenly, the doors to the train car burst open and the happy bubble that inhabited the car burst. Out of pure surprise Engineer stopped his strumming, and for a second, the car fell very silent.

The men that opened the door were a dozen suited men. They seemed just as surprised as they stood cramped in the small doorway. They tightly gripped what looked like heavy assault rifles, and Engineer understood that they were real business. After a while, the one who looked like the leader of the bunch stepped in with authority, like he owned the damn place. He was dressed in large robes, which stood out from the rest, but he didn't look shabby in any way, Engineer bet that he still could fit together with the people inside the first car. On his naked arm, a tattoo of a dragon ran along, it wasn't a tattoo like you saw everyday. It was a carefully painted masterpiece, and the lines of ink seemed to flow freely as Engineer inspected the mans arm. His long hair was tied into a ponytail, but there were still some stray hairs that fell over his face.

The first one to break the silence was the man in the robes. Engineer noted his deep Japanese accent.

"To think that there were other freeloaders than us... This could complicate things." he carefully scratched his beard as he spoke. "Speak up, who are you people?"

He wasn't angry by the looks of his carefree attitude, but Engineer felt other emotions hiding behind the strangers mask. It was like an unruly anger was kept deep inside the man, like a wild dragon in chains, not able to roam freely, and for a moment Engineer wondered if he really was the one keeping notes on the suited men, maybe it was the other way around.

Engineer took a deep breath, he decided that playing cool was the way to go. He didn't want to provoke the man, and he definitely didn't want to wake the wrath of a dragon. As Engineer started to speak, he picked a chord and continued the melody where he left of.

"We don't intend to disturb ya, we are just as you said; three freeloaders, nothing less, nothing more." he looked up at the man. "If you just leave us alone, we'll throw you guys a blind eye."

The japanese man laughed at this.

"I admire your courage, to speak up to me with such carelessness, I can bet that you are a leader."

Engineer couldn't tell if the man was praising him or criticizing him. It was not often that Engineer took the leader role of the team, but as Spy were gone, he felt a responsibility to step up.

The japanese man didn't seem to be satisfied with Engineer's answer as he walked past to inspect the other two. He crouched down to where Pyro sat so their eyes were in the same height.

"What are you hiding behind that mask friend?" he smirked at Pyro

"I don't think that is a good idea sir." Engineer carefully warned him. Pyro wasn't someone to bow down to authority, so if someone or something bugged Pyro enough, it would be their end.

"And what do we have here?" The man looked over at Bastion. "Aren't you one of the monsters responsible of the wars around this area?" he grinned. Bastion simply leaned its head to its side like it couldn't comprehend what the man was saying.

"How many innocent people have you slaughtered I wonder? How many homes have you destroyed? How many families have you ruined?" He kept taunting the robot, but it was someone else who took offense.

The japanese man seemed to irritate Pyro to the point where they couldn't ignore it anymore. Before Engineer could react, Pyro gripped his axe and swung it toward the Japanese man. As if he had expected the attack, the man jumped back to the place where the suited men still stood and the axe went straight down and wedged itself into the soft metal floor.

The japanese man took a deep breath and spoke. "...I changed my mind. You are monsters of society, just like my brother. Freaks like you should just be disposed off... So why don't I make an example out of you guys?"

As Pyro's rage rose and Bastion's turrets began to whirl up, Engineer understood that he had to stop them or the whole train would be in danger. He jumped out in front of them with his arms stretched out to stop them. Bastion stopped in confusion, but Pyro just shoved him aside and continued walking toward the crowd.

Before Engineer even could shout out to Pyro, he felt the same strange heat that he had felt in the warehouse the night they and Overwatch had battled. An image of Spy's charred body suddenly flashed in his head and he realised that this situation was so grim that he had to take desperate measures. He fumbled to pick up his wrench from the ground and with a swift motion he hit Pyro in the back head so hard that he fell unconscious to the cold floor.

Both Bastion and the men in suits seemed surprised at Engineer's actions. Bastion stopped his turret and looked over the Engineer's shoulder. Dell was shocked by his own actions as well and he stood frozen in place for a second as he looked at Pyro's body. When Engineer finally come to, he realised that the suited men had surrounded them and had all their guns pointed at him.

The men fastly ran around and grabbed Engineer from behind. Engineer struggled to break free, but he couldn't muster enough strength. Before him, the man laughed and looked down at Pyro's unconscious body.

"So now you are fighting between friends huh? I misjudged you old man, you really have some balls." He kicked Pyro in the side so his body flew out of the cargo door, down into the lake that the train was passing by.

"PYRO! NO!" Engineer gasped as he looked horrified out at the unconscious body as it fell into the water. He tore himself out of the restraints and jumped after his companion. Not soon after him, Bastion followed. The other men that had tried to move Bastion from it's location had failed, but when Engineer threw himself out, Bastion followed its friend down into the impending doom, leaving the train car alone to the japanese mob.

As Engineer collided with the surface of the water, it was like he was hit by a truck. As he felt the cold lake water swallow his body, he saw the shape of a dark figure closing in on him, right before he passed out.

* * *

When Engineer finally opened his eyes again, he realised that he couldn't breathe. He quickly sat up and coughed and tried to get out as much water from his body as possible. Water splurted out from his throat, but surprisingly it wasn't very much, as if someone had already emptied his lungs of water.

When he finally looked up he was breathing very intensely. He saw that he was laying on a shore, just below the train tracks. Deep drag marks followed his body to the water, like somebody had dragged him up from there. He looked around and saw his open toolbox on his left, his tools spread all over the beach in the sand. Unfortunately none of his standard weapons was amongst the tools. The only tools he could find was the short circuit, the gunslinger and the jag. Engineer sighed as he picked up his tools as he muttered "Well, ya gotta learn to improvise" and he noticed how sore his throat was. When he had packed up everything he took a long look over the beach. It was stretching long across the lake. As he scanned the area, he saw the figure of someone laying a further bit away from him.

"Bastion!" Engineer said and ran over to the Robot. Engineer feared but it appeared that he was only in sleep mode. It would take some time for Bastion to reboot, so Engineer decided to pull him up and search the beach while the process was undergoing.

For maybe an hour, Engineer searched the beach, but no matter how many times he shouted his name, his friend wouldn't respond. After he had searched every corner of the beach, he began to suspect the worst. Pyro was nowhere to be found.

When Bastion finally finished rebooting, his eyes shone up with the same bright blue colors. Engineer chuckled and was glad that Bastion still was with him, but he suddenly noticed that something was wrong with him.

"Hey, what's wrong pal?" Engineer asked the robot, but Bastion simply ignored him. Suddenly, the robot turned around and started walking straight into the forest, like it was in a hypnotic trance.

"Hey! Where're ya going?" Engineer shouted after it, but as expected, he got no answer. It was as if the robot had cut off all surrounding noise and just concentrated on its current path. With some hesitation, Engineer followed Bastion on its journey into the German forest.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! Guess who's back! Welcome to the second arc of Mercenaries and Heroes!**

 **I'm sorry for the hiatus, some life-stuff got to me, but I won't be nagging and excusing myself, just take this as a sincere apology.**

 **I have still read some of your comments, someone even said that they would even wait until summer for a new chapter, and that makes me really happy! I also noticed that I got some new followers during the hiatus, so if this is your first time in an update, welcome and enjoy the ride!**

 **I also updated the cover image with a new logo! I also made a 5120x1440 poster in sfm some while ago that I use as a background image for my two desktops. If you want to see it I can post it on my twitter on CharlieQue_ or on MercsAndHeroes** **!~**

 **SO much has happened since I last updated! A new chapter in the TF2 comic was released, and Orisa was released for Overwatch! I already know a really good way to implement Orisa into the story, so rest assured!**

 **From now on, the perspective will probably change every chapter as the characters are more split up now. Some perspectives might get more chapters/coverage than the other's, but I'll try to keep it balanced.**

 **Thanks for reading! See yall in the next chapter!**


	8. The Horizon Lunar Colony

**Space**

 **T-10 minutes before landing**

Looking out the window into the vast space, the earth looked more like a baseball flying through the baseball field. It wasn't the first time Scout had been to space, but this was the first time he was able to admire the earth in its full glory. When they were kidnapped by aliens, they had their hands full of gunning down their captors.

"Hey, you were right doc! The earth is kinda egg shaped!" Scout exclaimed as he stared down on the planet. "Oi, Fatman, look out there and you might see a reflection!"

Heavy heaved a heavy punch at his scrawny friend, but Scout easily dodged by jumping up to the ceiling. The lack of gravity really helped Scout maneuver through the air, and now he seemed even harder to hit as he trickily evaded all Heavy's punches.

Even if Scout was joking when he teased his big friend, Heavy was worried as he looked out the window. The earth didn't look anything like the pictures he had seen or fit any description of the earth's colourful forests and vast blue seas. The earth he saw before him was like dipped in mud, like someone had put a grayscale filter over the window. It was like when you looked at a vacation card, only to find out that all the beaches had become mountains of garbage. And the newspaper clippings and books describing the "second omnic crisis" didn't make Heavy feel better. He looked at the russian tundra with awe. Anyone else would have looked at it with horrified eyes, like surviving in the ice desert would be a miracle, but for Heavy, it was like a kids sandbox, it was his home. He wondered what situation of his home was in right now.

"Geez this zero-F thing is amazing!" Scout cheered while floating through the space shuttling with his arms and having his legs spread out, like he was making snow angels in the air.

"Its called zero G" Medic sighed while packing up his equipment. They were getting near now, and he wanted to be prepared. On a table, he put up something that looked like a large metallic case. He opened the case and grinned, this box were soon to be filled, and the man who would lead him to success stood right in front of him.

"Herr Sniper!" Medic shouted at his mercenary friend. Sniper had just been chilling the whole way, with the brim of his hat covering his eyes. Medic knew that he did it to look cool and threatening, but it didn't fool him, because Medic knew the real reason for snipers acting.

"If you want me to help you with your motion sickness, just tell me!" he chuckled while Sniper blushed at his remark. It was not everyday you would see a cold blooded killer blush like a highschooler in love. "Heh rifle boy, from now on, you're working for me."

"What's that box for anyway?" Sniper muttered as he glanced at the table. Sniper felt uneasy looking at it, coming from Medic he knew that it had to be something messy and evil. That case could be the toybox of the devil himself.

"Don't worry about it." Medic waved the question away. "I'm just going to collect some samples for an experiment. And I want you to do what you do best."

"Peeing in jars?" Heavy snorted loudly.

"Aim for the heads. I don't want their hearts damaged." Medic spoke quietly, with a cold emotionless tone. His cold stare sent shivers down Snipers spine. For a moment, Sniper wondered why he even agreed to accompany them on this mission. Then he looked at the others in the shuttle, and realised his reasons.

In the large space shuttle there were more people except from the mercs. By a table sat a squad of marines who were assigned to the task, and Winston, the leader of the group since he was the one with most experience and the only survivor of the Horizon Lunar base. The marines were all brawny and had rough features. They looked at the mercenaries who were messing around with faces of either anger or disgust. They clearly despised them and probably criticized how Overwatch handled their recruitment. Many of the marines waved their hands in the air, trying to scare away the dove that were flying over them, now and then dropping a birdshit on them. When one of the marines drew a battle knife to take care of the dove, Medic gasped.

"Archimedes, NO!" the bird immediately flew back and sat down on its owner's shoulder and looked at the marines with innocent eyes.

"How long are we going to deal with these animals" the marine grunted while he sheathed his blade and sat down. "I don't trust any of these people."

"Don't worry sergeant" Winston talked up to the Marines. "I have them under complete control" He too, looked coldly over to the four mercenaries. He still hadn't accepted that they were a part of his team. It was Morrison's and Madalitso's idea to get them involved.

"Yeah, man, I've been meaning to ask, what are these collars you gave us?" Scout spoke up and pointed at his neck, a metal ring adorned it. It was pretty heavy and covered most of his neck, if you wanted to scratch it you could fit a finger or two between the collar and the neck, but it still felt very cramped. Medic, Heavy and Sniper also had similar collars around their necks. They were told to put them on before they launched as a "safety precaution", but they never got a proper explanation to why they had to wear them.

"Don't tell me that you have some sort of collar fetish, cuz ya know, that would be kind of ironic coming from a zoo animal." Scout continued and furiously tried to scratch his neck. He had tried before, but he wasn't able to remove to collar. It had locked itself into place when they put them on.

"As I said before, they are a safety precaution… For us." Winston walked over to the quartet. "If I am going to be honest with you, I don't fully trust you lot yet. It was Morrison's idea to recruit you, but he isn't here." He paused as he took out a tablet from his backpack. He started it up and icons of the four mercenaries lit up, as well as a bright red button under every icon reading "arm" and a green one reading "defuse."

"The collars around your neck all contain a powerful explosive, with one simple click on this, an emitter will send a signal your collars and activate the bomb, blowing your heads off. And don't even try to forcefully remove the collars as it will trigger the explosion itself." He looked up and saw the pale faces of the mercenaries. Scout had immediately removed his hand from the collar. He figured that it was not worth losing his head over an itch.

"And don't worry Misha," Winston looked over at Heavy. "I recollect our brawl in the factory and I noticed your endurance, so I put a little extra force in your collar, hope you don't mind."

Heavy snorted at this remark. "Heavy doesn't care. Little bomb won't scare Heavy." he crossed his arm and looked calm. Scout on the other hand, looked like he might throw up.

Meanwhile, Sniper was scanning the marines. One of them might be a worthy opponent. There was one guy in particular he analysed. He had the right posture for an elite sniper. Sniper cracked a smile. He, if someone, knew who was the top sniper in the world. This was a chance for him both to show of his skill and gather information. His battle with the purple woman in the warehouse had been short, but he had noticed her skill. Was there someone out there who could make his adrenaline flow like she had done that night? Sniper was committed to find this world's top sniper, just to pull them down from the throne.

Winston held up the pad for the marine sergeant. "See? I control my herd, so you better control yours."

"I think you misunderstand," the marine with the knife said. "By 'animals' I mean you too." his eyes narrowed as he glared at Winston. "Heh, you are actually the one I trust the least. For all we know, you could be working together with the monkeys at this base."

Winston looked down at the floor. "It's true that I am used to being distrusted by people, but you should get one thing right; Those monsters in that base are not my family. My real family lies with Overwatch." Winston stood tall and proud as he spoke, but the words the man uttered still hurt Winston. They made him think of the man that raised him, Harold Winston, the man whose name he took when he escaped the moon base and ended up on earth. It was a team from Overwatch that eventually found him. They had first been careful of him, keeping him in a cell, thinking that he was one of the gorillas that wrecked havoc in the moon base. Eventually Winston proved himself trustworthy and got to be an official member of the team. When Winston thought back on his time in that cell he realized that his situation then was very much like the four men that had just appeared the other day. Maybe he was too rough on them, maybe they were more like him than he thought.

* * *

After a while, they felt the spacecraft closing in on the moon, and they saw the vast base stretch out like a spiderweb on the moon's surface. The structure's were as gray as the moon itself, and it seemed to camouflage itself against the dusty old rock. The base looked as it should, very abandoned. No lights were emitted from the windows and there were no sign of life whatsoever.

" _Alert. Landing initiated."_ A voice in the speaker system sounded. Everyone in the spacecraft were tense. No one knew what was waiting behind the giant shutter doors. There was a high risk that whatever they found there could lead to their deaths.

" _Landing successful. Attempting to dock with docking bay 34."_ The same voice as before rang out. Scout swallowed hard. If the explosive collar around his neck wasn't enough, this was stressing him out even more. He grabbed his scattergun hard and double checked, even triple checked if he had loaded it. He saw the other's getting ready as well. Winston took the front as he was the guide and leader, tightly followed by the four mercenaries, and last stood the marines, ready to shoot down the men in the front if any of them decided to jump ship. Everyone stood with their guns pointing at the doors. If even an ant was crawling on the other side, it would be completely obliterated.

" _Docking successful. Opening shutter doors."_ The air that flowed in from the abandoned moon base was cold and thin, it strayed against their throats as they breathed. The space behind the shutter doors was empty and quiet, so they stood dumbfounded for a small time that felt like forever. But the marines wasted no time and took the initiative. The corridor they entered was pitch black. The marines had flashlights on their weapons that they used to light up their path. The place was too quiet and it sent chills down Winston's spine. Maybe all of the remaining specimens were dead? The alpha maybe didn't succeed to hold the his title, and maybe everyone eventually killed each other. That would be the ideal situation, Winston admitted.

The group exited the corridor and ended up in the docking bay. It was a large room with windows looking toward Earth. It would look like a regular airport, if it wasn't for the eerie silence, torn apart furniture and overgrown nature that filled the room. There was huge plants that clinged against the walls and vines that hung from the ceiling. Winston knew that all those plants originated in the main "cage", where he and all other gorillas first had lived. There were a few escape pods in the docking bay, but as Winston remembered, all of them malfunctioned. He was the only one who successfully escaped by repairing an escape pod. This room was the last he had seen of the moonbase, and it surely looked different. This again, filled his hopes that the mission would be free from encounters.

As if someone had read his thoughts, the docking bay was suddenly filled with a roaring sound. It was the sound system, and the welcome they had been waiting for. A voice so deep and rusty that it could belong to the devil himself roared throughout the speakers, but Winston knew perfectly well who the voice belonged to.

"Greetings Winston." The grumbly voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Zacharias..." Winston mumbled through his teeth.

"I must thank you for cooperating and bringing exactly what we need, we have been stuck here for too long." Suddenly, the shutter doors leading to the spacecraft closed in an instant, and cut them off from any escape route. Several of the marines tried desperately to force the door open, but to no avail. The doors were made out of two meters thick solid metal. The sound system died and left everyone with suspense and a dumb look on their faces, but Winston knew perfectly well what was going on.

The whole plan. It was a trap.

But before Winston could even act or say anything, he noticed that all the marines had their guns pointed at him.

 **To be continued!**

 **Heeey! I did not realize this at first, but 5 days ago it was a whole year ago that I posted the first chapter :0 time sure flies! This really works nice together with the anniversary event Overwatch has going on right now! To celebrate this, I have two (or maybe even three!) chapters after this one that should be ready within the next week! So expect updates soon!**

 **I am going on vacation starting next week, I'm actually going to the USA with my family, which is exciting because I have never been to America before. We are going to drive along highway 1, and when we arrive in Los Angeles I'm going to attend E3! I'm really hyped for this and hope everything will go well ^^**

 **I'm sure most of you have seen the latest tease from the Overwatch team regarding the Horizon Lunar Colony, and I hope that update won't interfere with my story too much. In this chapter Winston mention the main antagonist of the Horizon Lunar Colony, Zacharias. He is a character I made up, and hopefully 'Hammond' that was teased in mentioned post won't be too similar to him :') I want to wait and see where Blizzard goes with this update, so in the meantime I will focus on the other characters in the story.**

 **Thank you for reading and I will see you again soon! ^^**


	9. The Parable of the Good Omnic

**Zenyatta**

Zenyatta was walking through the deep snow of the alp mountains. The untouched Nature flourished around him as he walked past. It was this kind of peacefulness that he was searching for. It had been a year since the incident where his former master Mondatta was assassinated, and he needed time for himself to think. The Omnic monastery that Mondatta led was now without a leader, and Zenyatta considered his options of returning and restoring the order. On the other hand, he had not heard from his latest pupil for a while. He last saw him when he went on a undercover mission in North Korea, and that was more than two months ago. Zenyatta would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried. He had trained Genji hard and he trusted that Genji had everything under control, but he couldn't help worrying.

This was the kind of place that was free from religious thoughts and opinions, and he could calm down and open his mind. If he wanted, he could hover around like he usually did, but he liked the feeling of the uneven soil beneath his feet and the cold snow brushing against his ankles.

Deer and rabbits were jumping around him, sniffing him, curious by his shining chrome body. Just like the train that passed through the nearby forest, he did not disturb them. If a human were to approach them, they would scatter instantly and run off in different directions. Now they stroked his side like a pack of stray cats.

Suddenly, the animals that followed by his side tensed up. They stopped in their path and all looked over at an oak a few meters away. Zenyatta followed their gaze and saw what they had reacted to. He saw someone, slouched against a tree. All snow had melted around the person, and it looked like the ground the person's legs ran along was scorched. The person appeared to have a gasmask on, as well as a suit, so Zenyatta couldn't identify them from a distance.

When moving closer, Zenyatta wasn't sure if the thing sitting by the tree were even human. It surely wasn't an omnic as it breathed hard through the filter of it's gasmask, but the rough noises and the rhythm of the breathing made him think that it was one of a wild animal. As he approached the oak, the creature's body writhed in it's place. It seemed to be in great pain.

 **Pyro**

Pyro made a roaring sound as the metallic man approached. Right now, he was angry at himself for what he had done, and he just wanted to be alone. He was both responsible for Spy's death, and for being an obstacle to Engineer that put both him and his new friend Bastion in danger. He felt like he had betrayed his friends, and he just wanted to die out here by this tree. No one would surely miss him. He wa just a psychopath that everyone pretended to like.

The animals scattered when Pyro raised his raspy voice against the metallic man, but Zenyatta did not hesitate. He sat down on the opposite side of Pyro and inspected him closely. Pyro tried to reach for him, but it was like he was chained to the tree, or couldn't muster enough strength to reach him.

Zenyatta slowly put his hands together and with his power, and eight shining orbs rose from his back. He gently moved his right hand to an open palm pointed at Pyro, and one of the harmony orbs floated along his arms and out to the broken person. The orb hovered slightly over Pyro's shoulder, and a beam flowed from the orb straight into Pyro's chest.

Pyro felt warmth spread out into his body. Not the destructive kind that he usually felt on the battlefield, but like a warming feeling like a cozy campfire or a cup of hot chocolate.

"You seem to be in pain other than physical my friend." Zenyatta said soft and reassuringly. "Tell me, what is on your mind?"

Pyro wanted to speak, but his voice came out as a raspy and dry cry. Weirdly enough, Zenyatta seemed to understand Pyro's desperate try at communication. Just like Bastion, he was able to interpret what Pyro was saying.

"You are responsible for the wounds of a friend you say?" Zenyatta asked with consideration. He paused and thought for a while before he answered. "Whatever happened, I believe it wasn't your intention. You seem like a good person deep inside, and I can help you turn your life of destruction and pyromania into a life of harmony and peace." Zenyatta stood up and reached out his hand, however, Pyro didn't have enough power to grab it, his arms just slouched along his sides.

"I'm sorry, but I would like to look more closely on your wounds, if you excuse me might I remove your mask?" Zenyatta looked down on him carefully. Pyro had no power to stop him, and in the mood he was in, he had no intention to stop him either.

Slowly and carefully, Zenyatta removed Pyro's mask, and he took a sudden step back when he saw what was underneath. Then he looked really sad.

"Oh," Zenyatta gasped quietly, "What have they done to you my child?" His voice was almost shaking as he spoke. Zenyatta put the mask back on Pyro and put his arms around him to help him up. Supporting him by his side, Zenyatta walked with Pyro out of the forest towards a nearby town.

"You need treatment." he said with determination. "I'll also help you find peace. Become my pupil!"

 **To be continued**

 **Hey everyone! Right now I'm writing this on my iphone since my internet broke down over the weekend. I have done my best to try and write on my phone, so you know why there could be more faults in the spellings and a bit shorter chapter than usual. Tomorrow I'll fly to the US and will probably not be able to upload for two weeks, but expect a new chapter when I get back! I might be able to release a teaser of the chapter on my twitter.**

 **I also noriced that we just reached 300 readers! I can't thank you guys enough!**

 **Other than that, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


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